After being awarded a very controversial decision win over the weekend against Erislandy Lara in Atlantic City, Paul Williams has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism, most of which should in fact be directed at the judges of the fight rather than the fighter himself.
What Williams might be criticized for though is the fact that he has been quick to dismiss the idea of a much needed rematch with Lara and instead seems hell bent on talking up a third fight with the much more dangerous Sergio Martinez.
During his post fight interview Williams said:
“Of course I believe I won the fight, I know it was a close fight, I know Lara hit me with some nice shots and all that but, you have to take it up with the judges.”
“We definitely want Martinez before I go on out, I think the fans want to see it I know ya’ll want to see it so, why not?”
Despite Williams wanting to get back to the top as quickly as possible though, most who saw him against Lara have serious reservations.
Some about whether or not he should even still be fighting.
To begin with, aside from the three judges ringside, more or less unanimously everyone else watching scored the fight heavily in Lara’s favor.
It wasn’t a fight that divided opinions. It wasn’t a fight that most even saw as particularly close and it wasn’t one that filled even ardent Punisher fans with much confidence of him beating Sergio Martinez in a third meeting.
Williams though isn’t keen on the idea of facing Lara again:
“I’m looking forward to moving on to bigger and better things. When you fight a guy at his level, you aren’t going to rise,”
Erislandy Lara’s post fight interview can be seen here
In the past both Martinez and Williams have struggled to find high profile opponents, which even after their second clash lead many to believe there would eventually likely be a third.
Before that happens though and to inject some now much needed intrigue into the fight, Williams needs to first rematch Lara and win convincingly.
Against Lara, Williams was slow to start, made little to no adjustments to Lara’s offense and in general looked like a fighter who simply didn’t have any answers for the same punches that Martinez was able to land on him time and time again.
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Martinez would have little problem emulating and improving on Lara’s performance, which the Cuban based on the Argentinian’s to begin with, and with his power would likely stop Williams for a second time.
Clearly then Williams at the very least needs a big win to get himself back on track and given that the judges were alone in their opinions that he won the first, Lara more than deserves a second shot.
Also if Williams is as eager for a rubber match against Martinez in the near future as he claims, comfortably beating Lara, who did his best to fight like Martinez last weekend, not only prepares him well but may be his only option.
It’s no secret that all of Williams’ most difficult fights have all come against southpaws, and beating a good one like Lara is probably the only thing that will now convince people he has any chance against a great one like Martinez.
Ben Adams, Pitt: “Williams looked like his chin was shot, he got wobbled a few times, Martinez would have finished him”
