I’ll play devil’s advocate and ask a question that’s seemingly been on the minds of boxing fans for ages: Why does Paul ‘The Punisher’ Williams have such a hard time getting fights? Perhaps a better way of asking that question is: Why are so precious few fighters from 147 to 160 lbs. unwilling to face this man? Since his career-defining decision victory over former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito in July 2007, Williams has been on no one’s list of prospective opponents, a big reason why he’s had to shuttle back-and-forth between the 154 and 160 lb. divisions over the past year.
The total unwillingness to face one of boxing’s most highly-regarded fighters isn’t hard to fathom, but involves a combination of factors, none of which are Williams’ fault. At the top of the list is that fact that Williams is a high risk/low reward proposition, much like former three division champion Mike ‘The Body Snatcher’ McCallum was in the 1980s and 90s. McCallum reigned in an era when Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Wilfred Benitez, Tony Ayala and Thomas Hearns all campaigned at or near the 154 lb. limit, yet ‘The Body Snatcher’ had little to no luck landing that “super fight” that would have firmly entrenched him in the consciousness of boxing fans worldwide. Like McCallum, Williams is faced with a not so simple dilemma – the more he wins, the less likely he will be to get the “big fish” to bite. It’s a problem not of his own making, and unlike the 1980s, there are relatively few truly mega-watt opponents to choose from.
Can this puzzling state of affairs surrounding Williams’ career be blamed entirely on the fighters in question, or is there something more at work here? After his highly-entertaining and title-winning effort against Margarito, it was widely-assumed that The Punisher would be able to write his own ticket in the welterweight division, but things have not quite played out that way, and for various reasons, one of which is the near monopoly promotional companies like Top Rank Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions have on the boxing talent in the middle divisions. Another is the inclination of the boxing public to recognize only the “name brand” fighters, once-great fighters whose name recognition value far exceeds their talent. It’s a condition that’s grown progressively worse over the past decade, and there’s little indication that it will improve. A clear case in point was the rematch between light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson and former champion Antonio Tarver. The rematch became necessary due to a clause in the contract of the first match between the two, a clause calling for a rematch for Tarver’s title in the event he lost it to Dawson. To say that public interest in the rematch was anemic would be a gross understatement, yet HBO chose to buy the fight and feature it on its March 14th ‘World Championship Boxing’ telecast. Several months later, the same cable network took a pass on the proposed Cruiserweight Championship fight between champion Tomasz Adamek and Glen Johnson, a potential ‘Fight of The Year’ candidate that lit up boxing blogs all over the internet!
So who’s to really blame when a highly-talented fighter like Paul Williams gets frozen out of the big money picture? Is it the fans, for allowing cable networks and promoters to force unappetizing fights down their throats? Is it the fighters themselves, for not being more proactive in the promotion and management of their own careers? Or should we blame the boxing promoters and cable networks themselves? Actually, the blame should be shared by all parties mentioned. Here’s a perfect example…After his victory over Margarito, it wasn’t Williams who was lined up for the big fight against WBA 147 lb. titlist, Miguel Cotto – it was Margarito! Did Williams or his management team complain through media outlets over this blatant “end around” engineered by Top Rank and HBO PPV? No! Instead, Williams was perfectly content to defend his WBO title against previous Cotto victim, Carlos Quintana, a title he would lose in a lopsided twelve round decision, and regain via one round blowout several months later. Blaming Top Rank misses the larger picture – a promoter’s primary responsibilities are to make as much money for its company and keep as many championship belts as possible “in-house”. It’s the fighters’ and the fans’ responsibility to lobby for the fights they want to fight in and see, respectively. As was the case in the resurrection of the once-dead Dawson-Johnson rematch, a fight that finally came to fruition once Dawson ran out of other viable options and boxing fans all over the internet made their voices heard, it’s going to take a similar effort on the part of the true boxing fans to get this train back on its tracks. Johnson stated his case indirectly on a boxing website blog, in an open letter to then light-heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe. By inference, his comments were also aimed at Dawson. Fans reading that missive from Johnson must have really felt Glen’s pain because the response to HBO’s misguided decision to forgo the Adamek bout were numerous and intense.
It’s extremely disingenuous to place the blame squarely at the feet of promoters like Oscar De La Hoya and Bob Arum. After all, you’re only sold what you’re willing to buy! If, as fans, we are willing to buy Product A when Product A is clearly inferior to Product B, then we deserve to be sold the inferior Product A – don’t blame the salesman!
Which leads us back to the case of Paul Williams – namely the question of why there hasn’t been a stronger push on the part of boxing fans to get fighters like Cotto, Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, Sergei Dzinziruk, Daniel Santos, Sergio Martinez, Cory Spinks, Arthur Abraham and Kelly Pavlik to step up and face ‘The Punisher’. It’s not necessarily fear on the part of the aforementioned fighters as much as it is a basic reluctance on the part of their promoters to risk their fighters in a fight that would likely to lead to a defeat for a marginal purse. Therein lays the key – the purse! If Williams were able to command a near $10 million purse, or something in that ballpark, the line to face him might not wind around the block, but at least there’d be a line! Because he doesn’t bring that type of a payday to the table as perceived by the networks and fans, it’s unlikely a top-notch fighter from 147 to 160 lbs. will feel compelled to fight him. The July 2007 Margarito title fight came about only because Williams was the mandatory challenger for the better part of a year, and the ‘Tijuana Tornado’ had to face him, or risk being stripped of the WBO strap. No such favorable circumstances now exist for Williams, simply because he’s had to hop between 154 and 160 for the past year, and lays claim only to the Interim WBO 154 lb. title, hardly a hefty bargaining chip at the negotiating table.
So what lies in the immediate future for Paul Williams? While Mosley continues to plead and pander for a Manny Pacquiao fight, a fight unlikely to happen, and with the rest of the best at 147 lbs. unwilling to consider stepping in with him at this time, the best options for Williams appear to lie at 154 lbs. Why? Because the Middleweight Division is virtually barren. With Abraham’s recent exodus from the division to participate in the 168 lb. division’s tournament, and Top Rank’s refusal to risk Pavlik to another defeat, it appears that Williams’ only viable alternative is to campaign at 154 lb. limit, hoping that the big names at 147 lbs. will eventually migrate north. The junior-middleweight division, with champions like Martinez and Dzinziruk eager to make names for themselves, certainly provides ample opportunity for a fighter of Williams’ immense talents. With no one at that weight on his talent level, Williams is sure to pick up a title or two while he waits for the Mosleys, Mayweathers and Margaritos to step up to the plate, an unlikely course of events, indeed!
For now, Williams’ career is in a state of limbo, but that has more to do with boxing politics and economics than anything else. He’s best-advised to remain active and continue winning convincingly.
