Williams was a better athlete than most heavyweight champions were. His jab was great he was fast, and he moved well with his legs. That type of game can get you to the top in the lower weights. However, Carl Williams was a heavyweight with draws backs such as lack of grit, confidence, and of course durability. Such flaws will doom even the most talented heavyweight prospects.
I just thought he looked very good and with the exception of the vulnerability of dropping his right hand looked to have the total package in yet you never really hear his name mentioned. Just goes to show you that a guy that was seemingly deemed as just above average in the 80's would be at or near the top of the pile by todays standards. The HW division really is **** poor!
I agree that Carl Williams was a natural athlete with great potential.... BUT! As a fighter / boxer, he was missing that certain element to propel him to the level of stardom..... Williams' defense and chin was poor......... Thus, it cost him in the end..... Carl Williams will not be remembered as a contender 20 yrs from now..... The truth hurts.... MR.BILL
Well, its exactly 20 years after his last and final title shot ( Mike Tyson, 1989, ) and we're still talking about him..
One of the better contenders of the 80's. Sound technique and skills, very good jabber, lacked in desire and suspect chin however.
Yes... However, it is nondescript.......:shock: MR.BILL NOTE: Williams is not held in praise these days...... He fell short...
Actually, I do remember him as a contender. But what I most remember him for is grabbing defeat out of the clutches of victory against Mike Weaver.
The Truth was a huge spoiler against boxers. Guys like Holmes, who relied on movement and his jab to win were facing a tough task in Williams because of his superhuman reach and height. Against punchers though, he was ordinary.
There are a lot of guys who fell short of what their originally calculated potential was, yet some are still remembered as being contenders, because they fought great men for the title. If you read some of the other posts on this thread as well as do a search on past threads involving Williams, you'll see that some are crediting him for his great jab, heart, and performance against an aging but still reigning Holmes - a fight that was nearly 25 years ago by the way... Now, is Williams going to be remembered in the same capacity as other great contenders such as Jerry Quarry, Harry Wills, Sam Langford, Roland Lastarza, and many others were? My answer is no... However, we are two decades past the last time that he challenged for the title, and yet you and I are still debating about weather or not he will be talked about in another 20 years:huh
Carl stretched a good Larry Holmes to the wire in Holmes great reign, It was within a single point........ I also remember him getting dropped by Jessie Ferguson , Mike Weaver and Jerry Jones.. along with Ko losses to Tyson and Weaver.. Carl was a great jabber with strength, but a weary chin.. Could have been one of the best ever heavys never to win the title..
Im curious why some posters say that he lacked desire..can anyone provide reasons for these comments..he showed a lot of grit in the Tommy Morrsion fight and he was way past his prime at that point.....
Agreed, I was never under the impression that he lacked the drive to be a champion. He rose off the canvas a number of times in his career to win fights, and even in defeat, rose nonetheless. With only 16 matches under his belt and a very limited amateur career to boot, he fought reigning champ Larry Holmes over 15 rounds, in a bout that many felt he won, ( though I personally didn't. ) Lastly, the Morrison fight was an outstanding past prime effort as you mentioned. I haven't seen the match since I watched it live some 15+ years ago, but I can still remember Gil Clancy saying how pleasantly surprised he was that Carl had shown up in good form, despite some of his more recent performances. In conclusion, Carl " the truth " Williams had his limitations, but desire wasn't among them. It took enourmous desire to begin an amateur career at a later age, and acheive what he did.
I think Carl sometimes thought he was jobbed out of big opportunities after the Tyson fight because his face didn't fit and other larger fights were getting set up without him.. (Holyfield v Tyson) The night Tyson Ko'd spinks he beat Trevor Berbick to be called the number 1 in the IBF.. he lost his championship shot by KO, and called the so called fast stoppage political ... Carl had the tools but only rumbled when he felt like it, he was not a hungry fighter like those in the late 70's.. He was in my opinion a sometimes man.. only put in a great performance when the fancy took him.. He was excellent when he was in shape and had the ability to knock off anyone if it was based just on offensive tools. That chin was a tad shaky though... The Morrison fight was a wonderful bout, and i thought he was unlucky to get stopped against Bruno in 1993.......
Carl Williams is still living off his "Near-Miss" against an aging Larry Holmes from 1985.... However, those KO losses to Mike Weaver in '86 and to Mike Tyson in 1989, really hurt Williams' marketability and heavyweight stock status... I think it was around 1991 where Williams dropped a decision to Tim Witherspoon; after that, I pretty much considered Carl Williams done with as a serious contender...... Carl Williams never learned to avoid a wicked hooker with a wicked left-hook shot..... Cheers.... MR.BILL