ATG BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNIE: Round 1, Fight 8 - KID WILLIAMS Vs PANAMA AL BROWN

Kid Williams (seeded 8) was a hideous mix of pressure and violence, one of bantamweight’s great ring terrorists. He thrashed at the opposition with a belief born of certitude, certitude which itself was born of some other dark sense – perhaps a notion that he was doing exactly what he was born to do.

His 1912 run at the title, held by Johnny Coulon, was terrifying. He fought 19 times between January and November losing exactly one contest, to Johnny Solzberg, in a razor-thin decision that reads like it could have gone either way. Williams beat up seven more professionals then re-matched Solzberg and kept the pressure on to stop him in seven. Williams was not one for loose ends. He was unsuccessful in his first title bid because he failed to knock Coulon out in a no-decision, but he dominated him and left little doubt as to the true identity of the world’s best bantamweight. To his eternal credit, Coulon offered Williams a rematch which Williams immediately accepted. Coulon, although true to his word, made Williams wait. So Williams went on a twenty-one fight maraud through the division, defeating made men like Eddie Campi and Charles LeDoux. He did not lose a single contest. He had peaked, a perfect animal and when he finally got Coulon into the ring in June of 1914, he tore him to pieces, shredded him in three rounds, inflicting upon him the first stoppage loss of his career.

Twenty days later he thrashed Pete Herman, one of the greatest bantamweights to ever live, winning as many as eight of the ten rounds and placing Herman “in distress” in the ninth round.

I would suggest that during at least a portion of this spell, Williams was as un-boxable as any bantamweight swarmer in history. In his way he was as deadly and untameable as Terry McGovern. Those two only missed one another by a few years; it was likely best for both of them.

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The legendary “Panama” Al Brown (seeded 9) towered over most of his opposition at around 5’10, an enormous height for a bantamweight of his era – tall even today – but not the oft reported 6’0 of lore. Loose, fast, Brown used his gifts to dominate from the outside, a booming right hand to the torso among his best punches; but he was also a world class improviser. Some years before the prime of one Kid Gavilan he was throwing something that looked very much like a bolo punch. Despite his skills at range he had mastered the art of infighting and of tactical fouling on the referee’s blindside.

His great talent added up to one of the longest title reigns in bantamweight history and a decade ranked among the best bantamweights in the world. Unfortunately, he did not defend his title with great frequency, nor was he consistent in non-title fights, dropping decisions to Speedy Dado and Newsboy Brown.

But this was a terrifying combination of physical advantages and great skill.

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Who wins this one under the following ruleset?:

15 round fight.
1950s referee.
8oz boxing gloves.

Cast your vote and explain yourself in a post below! You have 3 days.

 

I like Williams pretty big here. He was an absolute pressure machine and while observations about Brown's excellence (and filth) on the inside are valid, Newsboy Brown, inferior to Williams, beat him with pressure, Sanstol, probably not fit to handle Williams' jockstrap, ran him desperately close by some accounts, also winning rounds with pressure.

I won't go so far as to call this a stylistic weakness for Brown because he proved otherwise, but if he's going to lose it's clear he's going to lose to a scrappy fighter who can't be hurt by punches who is utterly relentless. That's Williams.

 

Panama Al Brown takes a unanimous decision from Kid Williams to see him through to the quarter finals. It seemed, early, that Williams' pressure might be too heavy for Brown as he repeatedly stuck himself in Brown's basket and threw two-handed, chin tucked into his shoulder, suffering Brown's punches gladly, but by the mid-rounds, Brown had mastered a pivot and shuffle that Williams never really found a way to counter.

Many of the rounds were close, some were won by Williams, but most observers felt that most rounds were won by Brown's cleaner punching.