He was touted as being the next great middleweight champion. However, I think his style ruined him by taking too much punishment from constantly applying pressure on other boxers and getting hit in return. I know he had an accident that ended his career but he looked awful against Lara. Lara had beaten him up pretty badly in their match. Any thoughts?
A great athlete, with great stamina who was defensively flawed. He certainly performed worse against southpaws. Then again the best he faced were southpaws. He was the first to beat the Margarito when he was still loading his gloves.
He was never touted as the next great anything. He was only touted as one of most avoided fighters in the sport at one point, but I never recall anybody saying P-Will was gonna be a great. But yes, Williams had too many defensive holes to be a great fighter. And the Lara fight was one of the biggest robberies in boxing history. Lara won 9 or 10 rounds. It was the most absurd robbery of the decade. But if Williams was around today, I'd pick him over guys like Porter, Thurman, and Garcia in a hot second.
