Paul Williams (39-2) goes into this fight rehydrated to 170 pounds hoping to forget the KO loss and Lara is at 160 and comes to this bout off the draw with Molina, in the prefight workup Max Kellerman believes that Williams is ready for this bout . Fighter are in the ring Williams looks much more relaxed smiling on entrance and Lara?s face displays a much more serious tone.
Round one, Williams comes out sticking the jab Lara connects with left to body then left ?right to chin. Williams throwing jabs looking to set up big left , but Paul is getting hit with lefts from Lara off the jab. Power punches 14 -2 Lara?s favor, and the size difference is stunning. Round ends in Lara?s favor and Williams corner is warning that Williams is letting him get off first, not only first but more often. Lara wins
Round two is starting and it looks like Williams has taken his instructions from the corner and is getting off first and throwing in combinations. Lands a good left and had Lara thinking and moving instead of stacking out the center of ring. Lara lands a good shot and Williams is shaken with a combination left right sits on ropes a bit then goes back to action, stalking Lara but Lara is landing more shots and begins moving more as round ends. Lara wins round
Round three starts with Lara landing two big overhand lefts that get Williams attention and awakens him a bit. Straight left by Lara lands, Paul goes back to trying to set something up but Lara continues to get off first , Williams throwing punchesm but Lara is slick . This round Williams is much more active and effective , landing equal amount of power shots with both landing around twenty. Round ends even to me but could go to Lara. Letterman scores it for Cuban.
Round four starts with low blow Lara down a second before action restarts. Lara backing away more making Williams chase him , then sliding in and out behind good shots . Starting to get the feeling that momentum is shifting this round in Williams favor Williams lands four left hands while holding Lara and Lara is clinching more as round comes to close looks as Lara is tiring. Williams wins round
Round five: Action is back on with Williams taking charge , Lara is tying up hand and Williams is hitting and holding with left hooks. Williams is bleeding from left eye as heads have clashed inside. Starting to trade much more on inside this round, with Williams more active and landing more often. The sound of the blows are hugely different as Lara?s are crisp and Paul?s more thunderous. Williams takes round
Round Six: Lara lands good body shot and Williams counter with right hand. Back to the inside now with Williams leaning on Lara they break and both fighter exchange blows Williams is taking more control of the action but Lara continues to land as Williams comes in with nice combinations and pretty lefts. The round ends and again Williams was more aggressive but Lara landed some nice shots.. could be a pickem round but think LARA landed some sweet lefts I give it to Lara after losing last two.
Round Seven; More of the same with fight taking place in close quarters Nice exchanges occurring at whatever range but Williams low hanging right is allowing Lara to land some big left hands frequently, Williams needs to lift that hand and defend against or it may cost him this fight. Lara?s left wins round
Round eight: Lara has gotten a second wind fighters seem to be taking a breather then Lara comes up with another big overhand left . Fighters in center of the ring winging punches in tight quarters with Erislandy landing more often Williams hitting the body couple look low. Nice busy round with both fighters landing well. Williams is spitting blood and breathing harder in corner between rounds. Round to Lara but close.
Ninth round; Less action this round more distance between working on outside no real punches landing then Lara lands left again, this opening there on demand. Williams?s punches are coming with more effort and every time he gets something going Lara lands the overhand left or combinations off it. If this continues Williams is at risk of getting stopped. Lara takes this round as well.
Round 10; Lara?s left is doing some damage and it?s creating openings for the rest of his arsenal , now the right jab is working better and setting up more lefts. When inside Williams is more effect but Lara know this and steps back when they get close widens the distance and sets up the left again . Williams is chasing him and landing some of his own left hooks inside but the more damaging blows are not his and he loses another round to Lara.
At this point as we get to the Championship rounds Lara has taken 8 of 10 rounds,
Round 11; Back to Lara working outside, Williams closing working better inside landing some uppercuts , working the body and just lands two body shots and two hooks but Lara steps back gets distance and lands a big left. Lara dancing more taking a break Williams looks tired and his face is swollen. HBO talking Williams retiring now. Williams winning exchange inside as round ends Lara took a bit of a break this round but still won with the bigger shots. Lara wins this as well.
Round 12; Lara three straight punches , Williams throwing jabs that aren?t landing having to walk Lara down and when he catches up to him he loses the exchange. Lara lands another left and Williams keep coming. Williams has lost this fight badly unless something is visually wrong with judges but he has been a game warrior. Round has ended and Williams half-heartedly raises hand, his face tells the truth of this bout as it ate a lot of lead lefts tonight.
By my count Williams won only two of ten rounds this evening and at the most Lara gave him the last round , so perhaps three rounds to Paul , eight to Lara.
Judges score 114 -114, 115-114, 116-114 and by majority Paul Williams wins in a travesty?.
First we had Wlad versus Haye, now this disgraceful act of robbery.
