The Case of Paul Williams

Paul Williams has been something of an enigma in the sport. His reputation has risen and fallen constantly throughout his career. Once the "most avoided man in boxing" to now having to seemingly rebuild.

For me the problem with Williams has been style. Physically the guy has every advantage going. A frame that allows him to compete over numerous divisions, a reach longer than most heavyweights and a huge height advantage. Framewise hes often been compared to Hearns (hes even bigger) who could be a monster at the lower weights. And you would expect his style to utilise this. A powerful range fighter with a great jab.

Instead the opposite is almost true. Williams almost goes out of his way to ignore his reach and is more like a swarmer and a volume puncher at times. I find it bizzare and such is his height and reach that he actually smothers his own work in close and cant get his arms up for defence making him easy to hit. Im not sure the reason for this strange style which ignores his strengths and the logic behind this style - was it natural or taught or what?

His career is at a low point now so what I am asking is do people think he could benefit from a change of trainer and try to switch the focus of his style to incorporate his massive physical advantages? His trainer is George Peterson who I dont know a great deal about to be honest so I cant say whether its Williams himself or his trainer behind his style. But for arguments sake if he were to go under the tutelage of someone like Manny Steward who could get his jab going, teach him to box at distance and tighten his defence do you think it could transform him for the better in the way he helped the likes of Lewis and Wlad?

Or at 29 with 40 odd fights is it too late for him to change?

I guess the reason I ask is because simply put, he looks like he should be alot better. Im not suggeting he could turn into Hearns or anything or even that he has leagues of talent that are being squandered, but his style is just so at odds with his natural size that I cant help feel he should be looking to utilise it more and that maybe hes boxing a style all wrong for him.

A couple of years back I thought Paul Williams could be the future p4p number one and that he would be the guy to beat Mayweather. Following the loss to Martinez,and in such a brutal way, I can't see him making the top 5 p4p.

Boxing

Manos - nice post and i totally agree. ive always said the same thing about williams.

He's tall and rangy yet rarely takes dvantage of these attributes by trying to utilise a jab and outbox his opponents on the outside, instead he volume punches and gets up close which puts him at risk - as we saw in martinez 2.

Its for this reason ive always felt he was overrated. He's just not an intelligent fighter, as an intelligent fighter utilises his advantages to take the play away from his opponent. Williams is similar to tommy hearns and shouldve looked to adopt a similar style. Why he has stuck to the style he chooses is probably part poor training and part his own lack of ring nouse.

I felt martinez beat him first time, then he looked poor against cintron before the bizzare ending - almost as if he was there for the taking, but cintron wouldnt pull the trigger. Martinez didnt let him off so easy and its worrying to see him so badly ko'd against a guy who's not known for being a huge puncher.

I think at this stage of his career it's a bit too late. I think the story of williams career will be of a guy that had all the physical attributes but was poorly trained and poorly marketed, resulting in someting of an anti climax.

Dont forget Hearns also liked a tear up....much to his disadvantage as Barkley and Hagler proved. Its never good for a chinny, rangy fighter to like a tear up. But it makes for excitement and its why we love boxing.

The thing with Williams is that he never looked chinny before Martinez two. He rarely seemed to notice punches coming back at him.

John Bloody Wayne wrote:The thing with Williams is that he never looked chinny before Martinez two. He rarely seemed to notice punches coming back at him.

Maybe its the added weigt affecting his punch resistance when cocked by bigger guys. But remember that the punch which put him to sleep was huge and well timed.

John Bloody Wayne wrote:The thing with Williams is that he never looked chinny before Martinez two. He rarely seemed to notice punches coming back at him.

Im not sure he is chinny. He was flattened by a perfectly thrown punch which hit flush. The higher weight probably accounts for some added power but even so I wouldnt think his chin is a problem. His defence is though as hes too easy to hit.

Basically Im not sure that his trainer has done any sort of good job with him. He has the raw materials most trainers would love to work with and I cant think why a fighter with such a freakish reach (longer than Klitschko to put it in perspective) would neglect to use a jab or distance.

I guess Id just like to have seen how good he could be as a range fighter that played to his strengths instead of a volume puncher/swarmer because the style seems all wrong for him.

To be honest i'm not sure we can speculate he's suddenly been "found out" or is "chinny"

The guy went up against the best fighter he faced, first fight took one flush and got back up a bit groggy. Second fight as everyone knows he got sparked, badly.

Thing is Martinez with his speed and power (underrated IMO) could well catch any swarmer flush, i don't think he'd ever land that kind of shot on say a Mayweather-esque boxer, or any pure technical boxer for that matter.

Thing is, would Williams have been as effective if he did use his reach? It's all well and good to say he's got a reach this height that, but the guy has done pretty damn well with an apparent lack in utilising his physical assets. He's learnt to box one way, he's been massively successful in doing that way and after god knows how many years of fighting it's a bit indulgent to then say "oh but he should be using his reach".. It's like saying Tiger Woods would have won miles more majors if he'd been able to control a draw with his driver and so should've learnt how to do so (he can't consistently hold the draw btw, hence why his stock shot is the fade)...

Comprende?

coxy0001 wrote:To be honest i'm not sure we can speculate he's suddenly been "found out" or is "chinny"

The guy went up against the best fighter he faced, first fight took one flush and got back up a bit groggy. Second fight as everyone knows he got sparked, badly.

Thing is Martinez with his speed and power (underrated IMO) could well catch any swarmer flush, i don't think he'd ever land that kind of shot on say a Mayweather-esque boxer, or any pure technical boxer for that matter.

Thing is, would Williams have been as effective if he did use his reach? It's all well and good to say he's got a reach this height that, but the guy has done pretty damn well with an apparent lack in utilising his physical assets. He's learnt to box one way, he's been massively successful in doing that way and after god knows how many years of fighting it's a bit indulgent to then say "oh but he should be using his reach".. It's like saying Tiger Woods would have won miles more majors if he'd been able to control a draw with his driver and so should've learnt how to do so (he can't consistently hold the draw btw, hence why his stock shot is the fade)...

Comprende?

Well this is the question isnt it? Im not sure I would agree entirely with the Woods analogy. For me it would be like Woods neglecting to use a driver the way Williams neglects to use a jab.

The chin question isnt the issue for me. The style question certainly is though. Because he looks awkward, smothers his own work at times and leaves himself open. These are all fundemantal problems. He has been successful yes, but probably not as much so as people anticipated when they first saw him and many touted him as a future p4per. I have to say with his style I cant see it happening now.

I think its a fair question to ask why a fighter with such massive physical advantages - he would have a whopping 17 inch reach advantage over Pacquiao for instance - neglects to really use them. There could be reasons of course but I cant help feel that he would have been far more suited to boxing at range or at least utilising the jab as an offensive weapon in the same way the Klitschkos do to control fights.

Manos

I just think he's playing to his technical strengths, some people just have a natural ability and way of thinking. Yes he "could" have utilized his stupidly long reach, but for him that might not have been all that great technically at doing so.

Not everyone's blessed with piston jabs etc, and for all we know he was a scrawny little so and so and spent years fighting a certain way. The old "can't teach an old dog new tricks" comes to mind etc.

To be a better 'jab, pot shot move' kinda boxer than a swarming one as he is currently would be something severly special as again - he's not exactly doing bad for himself barring the howitzer that Martinez landed. Bit like saying if Hatton had boxed a bit more he'd have been more successful, fact remains is he has his style and it's a bit speculative to suggest he'd have been more effective at using a different one, especially when he ain't done bad with his current one.

coxy0001 wrote:Manos

I just think he's playing to his technical strengths, some people just have a natural ability and way of thinking. Yes he "could" have utilized his stupidly long reach, but for him that might not have been all that great technically at doing so.

Not everyone's blessed with piston jabs etc, and for all we know he was a scrawny little so and so and spent years fighting a certain way. The old "can't teach an old dog new tricks" comes to mind etc.

To be a better 'jab, pot shot move' kinda boxer than a swarming one as he is currently would be something severly special as again - he's not exactly doing bad for himself barring the howitzer that Martinez landed. Bit like saying if Hatton had boxed a bit more he'd have been more successful, fact remains is he has his style and it's a bit speculative to suggest he'd have been more effective at using a different one, especially when he ain't done bad with his current one.

Yes theres no doubt there could be reasons. Im very much aware this is an "ifs/buts" sort of question. He has things to his advantage in his swarming style such as a high punch output and good engine.

As a kid he might not have been as physically big or had the same reach.

But its also possible that he had a trainer that just liked to fight a certain way or he just wasnt developed towards that style of fighting. Im not well informed on his trainer so I dont know what his calibre is but I just think that its a possiblity that he might consider a style that could incorporate a bit more of his physical attributes. Steward would naturally spring to mind.