After Kelly Pavlik’s win over Miguel Espino last weekend, the talk has once again turned toward an eventual fight against Paul Williams. Williams on his part is also looking for the bout, given that he has trouble finding opponents despite being able to make at least three different weight classes.
A fight between the two has been in various stages of completion no less than four times, but has always been put off for one reason or another. First there were money issues, and of course the career threatening staph infection in Pavlik’s hand that put him out of action for most of this year. The fight is something both fighters need though, for Pavlik it would strengthen his claim to being the bets middleweight in the world. For Williams it would mean a title, and guarantee him defenses instead of having to roam the weight classes looking for a fight.
Clearly Bob Arum is eager to make the fight happen after a disappointing turn out in Pavlik’s home town of Youngstown for his last fight. He even went so far as to try to bait Williams into accepting the fight. This tells me that either he is confident that Pavlik can win, or that he wants to get the fight over with and end all the speculation about the pair not fighting in the past.
Speaking to BoxingScene Arum said:
“I think it was a great performance [by Pavlik] but I want to say one thing. I had a contract signed by Kelly and Paul Williams to fight on December 5th. Kelly’s hand didn’t allow for that fight to happen but the contacts were signed. And I say this to those loudmouth guys with Williams, just initial the contract. We’ll do it first thing next year. That’s all they have to do, the terms are already set up. And if they don’t do it – let them shut their damn mouths,”
Pavlik also had some thoughts about facing Williams:
“Then I can be the most avoided fighter and most feared fighter in boxing. We fought Bernard Hopkins because Paul Williams pulled out of the fight [in 2008]. Paul Williams you are not the most feared fighter because you have a guy standing right here in Youngstown, Ohio who wants you,”
Dan Goossen with James Toney and Evander Holyfield (AP Photo)
Not surprisingly Paul Williams and his promoter Dan Goossen didn’t take the taunting from Pavlik and Arum lying down:
“Kelly Pavlik beats Miguel Espino and they believe they have Superman. Pavlik made $1.5 million less and couldn’t draw two thousand paid in his own hometown. The wheels of justice have finally prevailed in Paul Williams’ favor.”
“There isn’t much more to say other than the fact that Paul Williams has demonstrated he will fight anyone at any weight between 147 and 160 pounds, including changing complete fighting styles weeks before a scheduled fight as he did with Martinez. Let me also remind everyone, it is Kelly Pavlik that has opted out of four different opportunities to get into the ring with Paul Williams for whatever reasons they want to use for the reasons: staph infections, money, making a fist, mandatories,”
He also went on to state that he wanted a 50/50 split for the fight purse, which given all the delays from Pavlik, I think Williams deserves. There were even fans who thought Pavlik was avoiding Williams and delaying the fight on purpose, although a staph infection isn’t the kind of thing anyone would willingly endure. The fact is that Pavlik has just been unlucky over the past year and whether or not he can beat Williams, he is eager to make the fight happen.
Williams is always looking for opponents (AP Photo)
So just why is Paul Williams so avoided in the first place?
The answer is as simple as that he is unpleasant to fight and makes his opponents look bad. Not only is he usually much bigger than whoever he faces, but his punch volume and technique makes it difficult for most opponents to get close enough to land much on him. A power puncher like Pavlik would likely struggle with finding an opening to land his bombs, and Williams was a heavy favorite going into their previous meetings.
Of course Williams isn’t unbeatable, but his size and work rate make him a difficult proposition for anyone between welterweight and middleweight. In the future Williams might even have to consider bulking up and climbing the weight classes permanently is he can’t land big enough fights in the lower weights. At super middleweight his size advantage would be gone for the most part and he would have the super six to contend against. Obviously the best way of making sure he can get big fights is to force the issue by taking a few titles, and Pavlik would be a good start.
