Paul Williams is out to prove himself against Nobuhiro Ishida. (Photo by Craig Bennett/Goossen Tutor Promotions)
Paul Williams told The Boxing Lab that he's viewing himself as the underdog this coming Saturday against Nobuhiro Ishida, getting himself into the mindset that he's being counted out and will prove the skeptics wrong with a good win.
He also made this excuse for his performance against Erislandy Lara, which he says isn't an excuse:
"Going into the Lara fight you could say I was a little gun shy. I wanted to see if I could take punches and if I was scared to get hit. That was one of my longest layoffs too. I'm not making any excuses but I was basically allowing him to get off and I was waiting on him."
There is a constant state of denial with Team Williams -- a belief that there's nothing wrong and that his bad habits and poor performances can't be corrected, because there's nothing to correct. It's one of the most fascinating things in boxing today, at least to me. It's really bizarre, and it's not just the things they say in public. Williams (40-2, 27 KO) has the same issues in every fight.
As for his fight with Ishida (24-6-2, 9 KO), there's no way to convince me that this hasn't been scouted and that this isn't meant to be a very winnable bounce-back for Tall Paul. Yes, Ishida beat James Kirkland, but even if you count what probably should have been a win over Rigoberto Alvarez for him, Kirkland is by far Ishida's best win, and it was just so flukey in so many ways.
Brian Vera beat Andy Lee once, too. It doesn't mean Vera is really better than Lee. It did happen, but it didn't again. I suspect Kirkland would take Ishida in a rematch, too.
But Ishida is a smart fighter, and he's tall, and he's technically sound. He really could be a big problem for Williams, if Paul is really as gone as some think that he is. If Paul is genuinely impressive, I will consider it a pretty strong win -- even if it's intended to be a pure bounce-back against a guy with name (thanks to the Kirkland win) that doesn't quite meet his ability, he does have the tools to be a problem. He's not a scrub.
This is a fight that has grown on me a little bit, I'll admit. I didn't like it at all when it was first signed, but really, I'm so (relatively) low on Paul Williams right now that I actually believe this is the right kind of fight for him.
Williams vs Ishida is live this Saturday night on Showtime at 10 p.m. EST, with the pre-fight festivities (including Chris Arreola vs Eric Molina) starting at 8 p.m. EST on Showtime Extreme. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
0 recs | 9 comments
I love the fact that they always say it is luck that he gets hit with left hands from southpaws. As if Lara hitting him several hundred times in the head was just pure luck.
Kory Kitchen - February 12, 2012
Great. Now if Ishida tagging Paul repeatedly throughout the fight, I'll be wondering if Paul is allowing him to get off.
PhinsAllDay - February 12, 2012 via mobile
please excuse my wildly off topic post, but I don't have enough to write to make a fanpost
Is HBO ever gonna bring back those classic fight documentaries they were doing like 10 years ago? That put me on to so many great fights, hagler v hearns, duran vs pryor, etc. They have so many great fights under their umbrella and such a good track record with sports documentaries it would be easy to make a ton more of these.
William_H_HOLLA - February 12, 2012
They’ve considered it a couple of times, as I recall, but never brought them back. I really wish they would, too — they were fantastic. It’s a small investment in the boxing brand.
Scott Christ - February 12, 2012
Legendary Nights… I wish they’d make one for Mosley Margarito (EVERYONE thought Mosley would go down Balboa Drago style and DIDN’T! Or Ali Foreman style. I felt it was a whirlwind of emotion and controversy surrounding that fight… a divorce, a retirement promise/party from Margarito, the win over Cotto, the handwraps, the KO etc.
cylee1180 - February 12, 2012
I remember those vividly, and I looked forward to them (back then, I still had HBO). I used to watch them while practicing for guitar performances, and it was wonderful to have a constant diet of historic fights. And then, they just went away, and I always wondered why.
DrRck - February 13, 2012
Williams is perhaps climbing a steeper mountain of rehabilitation than he might otherwise face, just because of his pre-Martinez reputation, and in spite of the fact that he has, to a glaring degree (to me, anyway) the same flaws every long and lanky fighter has.
For the record, I’m interested in this fight. I want to see if Williams will be his old, gawky self; and I want to see if Ishida’s performance against Kirkland was really a fluke. It probably was, and if he does the same general kind of thing against Williams, it will be considered more a matter of Williams’ deficit than Ishida’s credit. Still, I’m curious.
DrRck - February 13, 2012
I love Williams ‘I wanted to see if I could take his punches’ reasoning for the Lara performance. I’m almost convinced that Ricky Hatton took the same approach against Pacquiao, but he obviously didn’t have the benefit of the great coaching of George Peterson which would have allowed him to pull it off.
Eoin_not_ian - February 13, 2012
I think you’re right about Pacquiao-Hatton. A lot of people, by which I mean me and a few others, never thought that Pacquiao could punch like Hatton, or take a punch from Hatton.
DrRck - February 13, 2012
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