Paul Williams ESPN.com Article

Division diversity the "Wright" strategy?


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By Kieran Mulvaney
Special to ESPN.com
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AP Photo/George Ruhe

Paul Williams' moniker as boxing's most avoided man often works to his detriment.
What do you call a welterweight with the reach of a heavyweight and the punch output of a lightweight, who on Saturday is facing a former junior middleweight champion in a middleweight bout, and whose best hope of a big-money fight may be at super-middleweight against a former middleweight and light-heavyweight king?
His promoter calls him "the most feared man in boxing."
After outpointing Antonio Margarito for the WBO welterweight crown in August 2007, Paul Williams not unnaturally imagined that he would be an integral part of an emerging and exciting 147-pound sweepstakes with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather.
It didn't work out that way.
Instead of facing the 6-foot-1 Williams, Mayweather opted to take on junior welterweight champ Ricky Hatton, and after knocking out the man from Manchester, agreed to a second fight with Oscar De La Hoya before changing his mind and announcing his retirement.
Meanwhile, despite losing to Williams, Margarito was the one who received the call to fight Cotto. After handing the Puerto Rican his first loss, Margarito passed on an offer of a Williams rematch and instead took less money to receive a pounding from Mosley.
That left the man from South Carolina with a shortage of willing welterweight dance partners and prompted his team to pursue a different strategy.
"Because he's the most feared man in boxing, we got together on a game plan, and that game plan was to do what Henry Armstrong did, and participate in a multitude of weight divisions so we could identify a broad selection of suitable opponents," promoter Dan Goossen told ESPN.com.
The plan began with a move up to middleweight and a first-round knockout of Andy Kolle. It was followed by a trip back down to 154 pounds and an eighth-round stoppage of Verno Phillips, and it continues this Saturday, when he steps into the ring at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to face former junior middleweight champ Winky Wright.
Like Williams, Wright is a man who has had difficulty finding opponents, his defensive southpaw style presenting a puzzle that is hard to solve, and even more difficult to look good against.
"It's tough when nobody wants to fight you and, you know, you see all these other fighters getting fights," Wright told reporters recently. "You can't get the fight just because nobody wants to fight you. It ain't because you ain't good enough. It's just they don't want to fight you. So, you know, I know how Paul feels about being avoided."
Also like Williams, Wright has moved outside his weight division in search of opposition; his last bout, almost two years ago, was a points defeat to then-light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins, who as president of Golden Boy East is now Wright's promoter, thinks the veteran has the edge in the matchup.

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AP Photo/Jae C. HongThough an underdog, Winky Wright has proven he won't be bullied around.


"Paul Williams is a good fighter," he told ESPN.com. "I just think with Winky's defense, Williams is going to have trouble when Winky closes the gap and takes those long arms away from him. I don't think he has the strength to bully and muscle Winky around, which is what I did. I had to make it ugly, scrappy, some holding. I don't think Williams has that strength, that's not how he fights.
"I think Paul Williams wants to make a statement, I believe he has to make a statement, and I believe he's going to fall into Winky Wright's plan by going out there and trying to be the first to knock Winky Wright out."
Hopkins, who spent almost the entirety of his career at middleweight before moving up to 175 pounds in 2006, thinks the Williams strategy of bouncing up and down the weight divisions is a recipe for disaster.
"I think that going from any weight class, going down and then going back up, it's bad for anybody's body. I think he gets away with it now, based on his age," he said.
Williams concedes he still feels most comfortable at the welterweight limit.
"I can make it with no problem," he told ESPN.com. "But I'm forced to move out of 147. If I can't get any fights there, why stay there?"
It is, he said, a frustrating situation.
"You see a lot of other guys on TV, they say they're the best and they'll fight everybody and all this and that, but when it comes down to it, they won't fight anybody," he said. "It's gotten to the point where I don't want to call guys out anymore, because it's gotten to the point where, if I call them out, they don't want to fight."
His promoter has no such qualms.
"We'd like to take the whole Golden Boy team and encourage them to stay firmly in the promotional business," said Goossen. "Starting with Winky Wright, and we'd like Shane Mosley; and George [Peterson, Williams' trainer] and Paul have said they'd be willing to fight Bernard Hopkins at 168 pounds."
"Paul Williams is hoping to come up to 168?" responded Hopkins when told of Goossen's comment. "That would be fantastic. That would be great. I would love it. I'd love it. It's a fight that people would want to see. I think TV would love it. I think it would be a situation, can Bernard Hopkins derail another up-and-coming star?"
Stepping into The Executioner's lair is a trap into which more than one highly touted fighter has fallen -- most recently middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who was schooled by Hopkins last October. But to land the big fight he craves, it is a step Williams may feel he has to take.
First, of course, he has to get past Wright. But if he does, Hopkins may well be ready and waiting for him.
"I think it's crazy," said Hopkins of Williams' travels through the weight classes. "I think it's a stress on the body. But if he wants to make it happen, come on."

 

Paul Williams Vs BHOP @ 168....

I dont like it...

NOPE!

not one bit!

 

Everyone Is Entitled to a favorite right?

 

Stop it PLEASE!

Paul Is trying to become a super star... sergei dzinzurik is not goin to do this for paul

 

I mean Lets say he beat Winky....

He Said He Would Do Bhop @ 168 (which i disprove of)
He could get shane @ 145-154
He Could end up Fighting Pavlik Down The Line Somewhere
He Could End Up Fighting Jermain Taylor @ Middle Weight
He Could Fight AA @ 160 which i also dont like

**** wasting time with sergei dzinzurik when you could get a match with those guys.... you could get money & recognition.... fighting sergei you wont get either cause if paul wins he beats a guy he should have beat ... as opposed to beating a war proven veteran

 

yeah nobody says it was a weight loss thing..... everyone says he just had a bad day at the office which it pretty much was

the photographers last name is ruhe.... i just fixed that..... but beating winky would do a hell of a lot more than beating sergei..... but word i personally woudlnt want paul in the ring with bhop...... i think pauls mentality is he will literally FIGHT ANYONE @ ANY TIME ... ANYWHERE.... he doesnt think of whether he wins or loses.... he is there to put it all on the line and give it his all.... guess thats the state of mind of someone who truly likes to fight