He had bad hands. When he started boxing he could hit a bit but he augmented his style in order to allow for the fact. He would have been even more successful in a modern era I think, and sure, he would have held titles. A lovely little aside is that Joe Louis credited him with developing his jab. They trained together for a spell. Louis respected him greatly as a fighter and spoke of his excellence more than once.
Loved the Eddie Futch quote (paraphase), "I would rather watch Holman Williams shadow-box than to see a lot of fighters actually box."
I can do no better than refer you to Springs Toledo's ,"Murderers Row"absolutely excellent book about all the black fighters who never got their chance at the title.Highly recommended!
I understand that Joe Louis would bring Holman Williams into his training camp at Greenwood Lake and watch him spar. He believed that could learn something that he could use in his own fight. That is quite a compliment from the Brown Bomber.
It wasn't an even playing field in those days. Williams was no doubt championship quality. When Sugar Ray Robinson and Tommy Bell fought for the vacant Welterweight Crown it was a bit of an issue to have two African American fighters facing each other for the title. That was 1946.
Williams was The number 3 middleweight contender in1942 The number 2 contender in 43 The number 1contender in 44 The number 1 contender in 45
Like other 1940s middleweights such as Charley Burley, Eddie Booker and Archie Moore (at that time), Holman Williams was not a big enough gate attraction to be in line for world title shots or big-money bouts. Moreover, all of the mentioned fighters may have not received title shots even if they were fine gate attractions, especially with Tony Zale or Rocky Graziano as titleholders. - Chuck Johnston
