The fight was close but IMO a clear vicotry for Paul. By 3 rounds given Marg started off too slow. The body work did its job and since Marg could eat everything Paul dished that is the reason he had success. Most don't have Margs Chin. Which is why I don't think there is a fighter at 147 or 154 who would really cause trouble for paul. Someone BIG needs to beat Williams and they need to be able to walk through his onslaught and take advantage of all the counter opportunities that Paul presents with his style. You'll have to counter Paul...punch when he's punchign and walk him down from jump in order to beat the Paul we saw against Wink....or get luck and get the Paul who showed up and lost to Carlos.
Don't get me wrong... unless there's a Christmas miracle, I don't think Kirkland's going to evolve much, if at all. Just thinking out loud about how he's got the insane endurance, decent-to-good power, and sure doesn't seem to mind walking through hellacious shots, but that the combos and ring intelligence aren't there. Maybe a few fights from now, by learning them the hard way, but it's doubtful; by that time, Williams will have even more fine-tuned distance control, so it would still be a crap shoot, but it'd at least be a mighty entertaining crap shoot!
It's not that easy cuz williams throws so many punches and he has a long reach. Most of his opponents are too busy defending his punches most of the time. Just look at the winky-williams fight. He throws like 5-10 combo then winky throws 2-3 in return.
I think he'll be fine taking a MW's shot , the problem is sometimes Paul is easy to find so Its hard for anyone to take ALOT of shots from a MW like Pavlik, I can see him getting KO'd from accumulation or TKO stoppage because of cuts and damage to face. The fact is, he is not a true Middleweight , he came into the ring against winky at 165 , he has come into the ring at 162 when he was fighting at welterweight.... Its cool to see him jump up and fight at all weights , but I believe he really belongs at 147-154, he can dominate at those weights .... MW i can see him losing to someone like Pavlik easily.
I would love to see Williams versus Santos. I know Santos is getting a little older, but it would be a great test for Williams. Beating Santos would really be an accomplishment. Williams is a southpaw, but for some reason he is vulnerable to the straight left. Weird. Santos versus Williams would be a good, interesting fight to see, one that I am hoping for.
There is alot of danger going to the body of Williams..Maybe not much for the middleweights but for the Jr middles and Welters were Williams has much more power it is. That long reach is the biggest problem, not so much the height.
He could not take a lot of shots from hard hitting middleweights but I dont think most of nobody could.