Paul Williams gave a very intelligent and insightful interview over at the pound. http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Gabriel/Montoya112907.htm Here's a nice excerpt. "I feel that if you want to be the best fighter out there then whatever challenge comes up you need to meet that challenge. A lot of people criticize Floyd for choosing his fights. Me, I want all the belts. I want to fight guys with the belts. I feel if think you are the best fighter then you have to fight the best to prove to everyone youre the best fighter. I dont feel you should run and duck fighters like okay Im not going to fight this guy, Im going to fight this guy. Thats like defeating the purpose of saying youre the best in the world." and "This guy says hes top dog at that weight class but hes not fighting the top dogs. Hes fighting the dogs that he can beat. The dogs that arent even that weight class but are coming up into that weight class. The real boxing fans, the real boxing people, they know. But the people that dont really know boxing like that they get sidetracked. They see all the belts they come into the ring with. They hear them say Pound for Pound and all that. Not raining on Floyds party but if he claims hes the best then he should fight the top dogs in the weight class. Thats how I look at it." Word to his baby momma!! thumbsup
Sounds like an interesting interview, but without having read it so far (barring the excerpts), there's just one thing I have to say - Floyd's last fight at WELTERWEIGHT was against the no. 1, undisputed and lineal 147 pounder in the world (however you rate him). So he's ragging on Floyd for ONE fight, which just so happens so be against the no. 1 lineal 140 pounder in the world. I suppose that's fair.
From a business standpoint, it makes sense for him to avoid Paul (Not saying he IS avoiding for the record). But from a "I'M the Greatest" perspective...****in prove it. Beating top guys @ 130 & 135 doesn't make you the best at 147. And beating Baldomir, who reporetedly struggled with Luciano Perez (15-6-1) tells us even more how good Baldomir really was.
Being Lineal doesn't make you immortal. It doesn't make you the best. Just makes you lineal. That's why you look at the fight and the fighters, not just the title. Rahman and Briggs were Lineal HW champs. NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND will call these two guys great anythings or even compare them to other Lineal HW champs. But it's a good interview. You should read it all.
Baldomir was still no. 1... Paul even says he wants to fight the guys with the belts. Well Baldomir should have had ALL the belts. It seems a little bit contradictory to say go after the best, but not when I don't like who the best is at that moment. Hatton is Floyd's FIRST fight at 147 after fighting the universal no. 1 welterweight.
A lot of fighters will be avoiding Paul Williams. I wanna see which one of the current champs will have the guts to fight Paul.
I'm just going by Paul's criteria. At the time, Baldomir had all the belts. It seems a little bit contradictory, as choosing whether a fighter with a belt is good or not, is just the same as "picking and choosing".
I am not arguing he was the Lineal or WW champion of the world. Just that you need to step back from "labels" and look at the fighter himself. I could think of a bunch of guys who would beat Baldomir the night Floyd did. Baldomir was just lucky to have such a mentally weak champ when he got his *ahem* shot at Judah.
I dont even know whats your point here. I think you can learn something from what PW is sayin', Floyd fights the guys he think he can beat, hence hes fighting Hatton, and avoided Mosley and Cotto arguably his biggest challenges at WW after his fight with DLH. Fought Judah after Baldo, and fought Baldobum. His cherry-picked his whole way, and PW is just pointing that out. He says it himself, people who know boxing know this. @ Welter hes fought Mitchell, Judah, and Baldo, and now a natural 140lber in Hatton, his welter record is weak and not the criteria of a so-called great champion.
I was very impressed with his character and insight. Last thing we need is another loud mouthed douchebag.
