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Rizwaan
Zahid


Williams ready to punish

at 147 pounds


 By Rizwaan Zahid
of The Boxing Amusement Park
With all the talk about Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, two-time welterweight champion Paul “The Punisher” Williams has said that he’s willing to come down to welterweight from middleweight, where he is currently campaigning to fight either man.

The likelihood of this fight coming off though is very doubtful though, especially considering Manny has inked a date with Joshua Clottey and Al Haymon is the matchmaker for both Williams and Floyd. Even if that was not the case, could you really see either of the top two fighters in the world fighting Paul Williams?
Williams is not unbeatable by any stretch, but he constantly expresses his desire to fight the best. To me, there is not a fighter out there who has proven that commonly uttered statement more than Paul Williams.

After Williams suffered the first loss of his career against Carlos Quintana, he fought three more times in 2008, in three different divisions, with three impressive knockout victories. There’s a reason they call him "The Punisher”.
Many don’t think that Williams will be able to get himself back down to 147, but his camp doesn’t think that is an issue.

Personally neither do I. Even during his days as a welterweight, Williams rarely weighed in at the 147-pound limit. In his last welterweight appearance against Quintana, Williams weighed in at 145 ¾ pounds. In his three middleweight appearances, the South Carolina native weighed in at 157 each time. Williams’ body structure could only be classified as a freak of nature, with unusually long arms and the ability to swing between divisions.
Unlike Margarito, who has claimed on numerous occasions that he's the most-avoided fighter in the sport (now we know why), Williams has never gave himself that label. Williams consistently pursues any meaningful fight that is available to him, and has fought Winky Wright and Sergio Martinez, two other members of boxing's "most-ducked" list.
Williams is likely to stay in the middleweight division for a rematch with Martinez, or a showdown against Pavlik. But if he does return to welterweight, and Mayweather and Pacquiao refuse to fight him, it’ll be hard not to acknowledge him as the best fighter in the division .

He won’t bring in the same kind of money as Manny or Floyd, and he does seem to have some trouble with southpaws, but the threat Williams poses is too much for either.

While names like Bradley, Malignaggi, Clottey and Foreman have entered the mix as opponents for Pacquiao and Floyd, "The Punisher" has earned the big payday.
Paul Williams is what’s good about boxing. Entertaining, humble, powerful, quick, technical and wanting to fight the best, no matter where they are. If there were more like him, the boxing world would be a better place.

 
 More columns
by Rizwaan Zahid:

Happy birthday, Champ!

Stars to Shine in 2010

The Grinches steal Christmas

Malignaggi-Diaz showed why instant replay is needed

Williams, Martinez show why they're avoided

Lucian Bute impresses America, and the world

James Kirkland: So promising, yet so wasteful

Suspension for foul language? That's bull$#:+!!!

Pacquiao-Cotto: Who wins?

Super Six Will Still Have Controversies

Haye, Angulo proved little

 


 

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Rizwaan Zahid



Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Rizwaan Zahid is in his senior year at Carleton University in Ottawa, pursuing his Mass Communications degree, with the future aspirations of becoming a professional sports journalist.
Although relatively young, Rizwaan has shown his passion of writing the beautiful sport of boxing and has worked with Bragging Rights Corner, Boxing Banter, Diamond Boxing, Fightfan.com, East Side Boxing as well as The Fight Network for over three years. With Fightfan.com, Rizwaan has been awarded the feature article of the month numerous times.
Over these past few years, Rizwaan has interviewed and conducted conferences with fighters and trainers such as Jeff Mayweather, Jermaine Taylor, Kelly Pavlik, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr., Jackie Kallen, Wayne McCullough, Manny Pacquaio, Wladimir Klitsckho and Emmanuel Steward.
Although boxing has been his main focus over the years, Rizwaan still has a strong passion for many other sports and has covered various sports in The Charlatan, Carleton University's newspaper.
Rizwaan has also worked with PHASE 1 Basketball, a camp based out of Toronto which is a showcase for the best basketball Canada has to offer on various levels, as well as the Out of Left Field blog which attracts numerous readers daily.
Rizwaan Zahid hopes to continue his efforts in journalism in the world of sports.
Contact Rizwaan