Phil Williams vs. Al Nicolas Sands II RBR

Round 8

They embrace to answer the bell. Williams is holding up his right arm, elbow bent and forearm crossed over his face to screen out the lumpy soft jabs Sands is feeding out in bunches from outside while hopping side to side and shifting his weight to either foot. Williams is now lowering his arms to slip jabs, making a ramp of his upper body and dropping his right shoulder while tucking his chin. Williams now launches a big ambush left but miscalculates his trajectory and wings it up behind Sands' head, resulting in a clinch. The crowd has absolutely had it with these guys, they're literally chanting "aw, come ON!". Sands lands a 1-2, mostly on the neck, but that fires them up momentarily. Williams starts to sashay in like he's going to go for a KO, but instead withdraws, arms down, jerking his upper body away from Sands' feints.

10-9 Sands

76-76

 

Official cards:

Patrick Morley 78-74
Elijah Staples 78-74
John Mariano 77-75

UD for Sands

 

6-2 is a little harsh, but Williams really has only himself to blame. WAY too much waiting. He treated Sands like he's some monster puncher (Sands does have 18 of his 20 wins via KO, but all over tomato cans).

If there's a rubber match he'll need to revert to his 2015 game plan and just plow through him.

 

Never mind, won't be one; The Drill makes an emotional and drawn out retirement announcement. The crowd is VERY supportive - despite their dissatisfaction with the fight itself, he is a longtime popular fixture in the Minnesota boxing scene. Members of his entourage (as well as Sands and his) - and maybe some randoms from the audience? - gather around him in a big group hug filling up the ring while he rambles into the mic about making sacrifices for his kids for several minutes.

 

^ to be fair, he's 42. So probably the right call. I also don't mean to sound quite so unsympathetic but that whole speech was unintelligible, could only make out every other word.

"Two days before Christmas, we.." - *trails off*, mutters too quietly to pick up for the next thirty seconds.

 

Just realized I never posted the link...in case anybody has a keen interest to see the Drill's last stand. (or some random Minnesotan propsects on the undercard)

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