Losses are vastly overrated in boxing, and all too frequently too much is made of them. It?s bizarre how a fighter can go from a sensation to an also-ran in the course of 12 rounds. An 0-for-4 night from Albert Pujols doesn?t mean a thing other than that Pujols didn?t get a hit in four at-bats in one game. No one would dare suggest that the St. Louis Cardinals? slugger need prove himself in the next game after going hitless in the previous one.
But let a fighter have the equivalent of an 0-for-4 and watch how quickly the rats scurry from the sinking ship.
Paul Williams knows the feeling. The former welterweight champion has been one of his sport?s elite fighters for years. He?s gone to the post 41 times and come out a winner 39, defeating the likes of Sergio Martinez, Antonio Margarito, Winky Wright and Kermit Cintron along the way.
Yet, when Williams faces Erislandy Lara on Saturday in a 12-round non-title super welterweight bout in Atlantic City, N.J., that will be broadcast on HBO, it will be referred, much to the consternation of Williams? veteran trainer, George Peterson, as a comeback.
Williams is coming off a loss ? a brutal, devastating one-punch second-round knockout loss ? to Martinez on Nov. 20. That solitary windmill right hand that landed squarely on Williams? chin has put Williams on the defensive before a punch is even thrown in his match with Lara.
Williams zigged when he should have zagged and found himself on the receiving end of the best punch Martinez ever threw. It?s boxing. It happens.
But when Williams spoke with the media about the bout with Lara, a majority of the questions were about the impact of the loss to Martinez and whether he?d change his style. It didn?t seem to rattle Williams, who is the epitome of cool, but it stuck into the craw of Peterson, his crusty and often overly protective manager/trainer.
?Paul has been fighting everybody that no one has wanted to fight,? Peterson said. ?That has happened and he got stopped in his last fight and now you are nailing this guy to the cross. He can?t wait and I can?t wait until this is resolved.?
Williams is laid-back to the point of seeming sleepy at times. He never gets too excited. He?s not a huge ticket-seller because he?s a low-key guy who doesn?t draw attention to himself.
He says he?s never been in a comeback fight and won?t refer to the Lara fight as such. He points out that nearly every great boxer has lost at least once in his career.
This may come as a shock to some, but Sugar Ray Robinson, the greatest fighter who ever lived, lost 19 times. Muhammad Ali dropped five fights. Henry Armstrong, who was so good that he once simultaneously held the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight titles, lost 21 bouts.
Williams is 39-2 and has beaten every man he?s faced. He lost a 12-round decision to Carlos Quintana in 2008 when he seemed to sleepwalk through the fight, but came back and settled the score, as well as the question of the better man, when he knocked out Quintana in the first round of the rematch.
And before his loss to Martinez last year, he won a majority decision victory over Martinez in what was the 2009 Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year.
The critics, though, are demanding he prove something, even if long ago he proved himself as one of the best of his era. In boxing, perhaps more than any other sport, you?re only as good as your last outing.
And so, until Williams comes back and creates another highlight, he?s going to constantly be reminded of that punch by Martinez. He?s been asked if it impacted him physically, prodded about whether it impacted him mentally, pushed about whether he needs to fight differently in light of it.
It?s all bunk from Peterson?s viewpoint, who is at a point in his life where he no longer feels the need to give politically correct answers.
?Paul Williams? style has gotten him 39 wins out of 41 fights,? Peterson said. ?In addition to that, Paul has a win over everyone that he fought. I see no reason, if you have 39 wins out of 41 fights, that you want to change the style. If something is working, you keep it working. That?s what happens in boxing. We?ll go with what?s working. What?s working is what we?ll go with.?
In an odd sort of way, the knockout loss may have been good for Williams? career. Guys haven?t lined up to fight him in the past for a variety of reasons. Start with the fact he?s left-handed. Add in the fact that he throws more punches per round than just about anybody. And then remember that as a super welterweight, he has a reach bigger than nearly every heavyweight and you have yourself a guy no 154-pounder is eager to face.
But after a loss, he seems vulnerable. And should he lose to Lara, a 28-year-old Cuban defector who is 15-0-1 with 10 knockouts, it probably won?t be difficult for promoter Dan Goossen to line up fights for him.
?If he loses to a Lara, it would open a Pandora?s Box and anyone who thinks they have any ability would think they?d be able to do what Martinez and Lara had done and would want to fight him to have his name on their resume,? Goossen said.
Williams, though, has no plans to lose or allow himself to become a steppingstone. The nine-month break since the Martinez fight has allowed old injuries to heal and renewed his passion for the game.
He knows he?s closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning, but he?s not about to walk away now. And while he really shouldn?t have to prove anything to anybody, he understands how things work.
Williams plans to make his point on Saturday very loudly and very clearly.
?I know this fight against Lara is going to be a hard, tough fight,? Williams said. ?I know Lara is going to try to capitalize on me [because] I am the biggest name he will have fought. So by beating me, that puts him right there on the top of the list. He is the new lion on the block and all that. You always see on TV how the young lions are trying to overtake the old lions, but this old lion isn?t ready to leave. So I am ready to put out 100 percent. We are going to have to go through the rain and get wet. We are going to have to go through the fire and get burnt.
?I am going to come out and fight and make it as rough and tough as it possibly can be. If he thinks he is ready to beat me to get to that level, he is going to have to drag me through the mud. I am looking forward to a rough fight. It is going to be exciting for the fans to see. I am going to be excited to see it too. I am just hoping that nobody gets seriously hurt, just hurt.?
Stay in boxing long enough and, eventually, you?ll lose. It happens to everyone.
The great ones, though, know how to come back from a defeat. That?s a point Williams plans to make Saturday.
