They’ve been selling the elongated Paul “Punisher” Williams to us for some time as a superstar.
That’s the key word, superstar, because no one involved with PWill has touted him as a just another run of the mill or more advanced world champion.
His rematch against redoubtable Argentinean Sergio Martinez Saturday night (HBO, along with the Margarito-Pacquiao replay, a treat only for masochists) is really a referendum on the American’s import in the fight game today.
In other words, I think it’s southpaw Williams fight to lose.
Philadelphia area boxing maven Marc Abrams, who nearly put the music industry out of business when he opted to make his Marc in boxing, seems to agree with me.
“I think Paul and Sergio are among the top five or six active fighters,” the 15rounds.com writer said.
“While I’m not completely sold on Williams, I can see him winning over 12 rounds with scores of 8-4 or 9-3 in rounds in his favor. He seems so focused on this fight and he remains so much bigger than Martinez.
“Frankly, I don’t see how Williams ever loses when all he has to do is stick out that jab and keep the opponent at bay.”
Finally, Abrams thinks some have lost sight of what went down in their first bout.
“Lots of people think Sergio won that fight and maybe he should have but it really could’ve gone either way.” I concur with the Cherry Hill (N.J.) Cherrypicker on this one.
Williams by SD after 36 minutes of solid action and I wouldn’t be surprised if both of them suffer one knockdown along the way. That would be reminiscent of their first bout, when both were toppled in the opening round.
This time, though, it’s up to Williams to prove he’s head and shoulders above Martinez in terms oif talent not just in physical stature.
The jury awaits…
Side note: Pacquiao gets grief for demanding gimmicky catchweights.
But what about PWill? He demanded and got a weight limit of 157 for this rematch, three pounds below the middleweight limit.
I guess it’s only shabby when Pacman does it…
