Paul Williams is a shot fighter.

He throws 100 punches a round. He didn't have bad reflexes or footwork until this fight. In the Martinez fight (both of them) his footwork and reflexes were good. Dumb yeah he does fight dumb, but I don't think he loses because he's physically weak, or because he's slower than whoever he fights, or because his reflexes are bad. He loses because his technique isn't as good.

Martinez didn't outspeed him, or out footwork him, he outsmarted him and simply knew techniques that Williams didn't have an answer for. Timing for the most part can be learned but there is a talent part to it.

In the inside Williams has good timing, you throw a punch and he might catch you with 2 or 3 punches. On the outside his timing is horrible. Why is that?

 

I'm talking about style not skill. Skill is learned by practice and improving on techniques. Style is just the way you try to throw your punches or the way you choose to slip a punch or counter.

He fights inside in the James Toney style. And he does have some unique techniques that are really good. His hooks, his uppercuts, his counters, are very good on the inside and Lara found that out.

Someone mentioned that he can be hit on the inside? Toney can be hit on the inside too. It's a matter of would Paul Williams lose to Martinez or Lara if the entire fight were fought on the inside? I doubt it.

I think Williams can beat any of the current fighters in his weight class fighting inside, it's his outside game that is getting him beat. And this has nothing to do with whether or not he's as good as James Toney on the inside. It's the style.

Just like he doesn't have to be as good as Wlad on the outside to win most fights in that style.

 

It might be his gaining and losing weight. It may have finally caught up with him.

I remember someone warning him not to keep going up and down in weight. Roy Jones looked the same way after he dropped 20lbs of muscle.

Williams just looked weak in general in every area. He didn't look himself. And on top of that he didn't work on his technique.

 

See for yourself [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsA0hreQAWI[/ame]

Everything about him looks better in this fight. Better reflexes, speed, power, footwork, technique.

He simply isn't the same fighter post KO. He reminds me a lot of Roy Jones after he was KO'd by Tarver.


Look at some subtle things in the highlights. First of all he uses feints against Martinez. He feints the jab in the beginning of the highlight video so that the jab was untelegraphed. Why didn't he do that against Lara? Also Paul Williams did a lot of other things right in this fight, I'm not sure what went wrong in the Lara fight but he looked off from the opening bell.

Here is the second fight
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXtzcSPLsk[/ame]

In this fight he came out faster than Martinez. He just didn't have good technique. Physically he has everything he needs and you can see it in this fight. He lost because Martinez timed him similar to how Donaire does.

And here is how he looks against Lara
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT3TKvgxS6E[/ame]

In the opening he did great, was using his height, and as soon as he got hit on the chin it's as if he forgot everything. On top of that it's like he just couldn't let his hands go or pull the trigger, almost like how Roy Jones Jr looked against Tarver in the third fight.