Williams landslides Wright in Vegas
by Scott Christ on Apr 12, 2009 12:05 AM EDT
in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis
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Former welterweight titlist Paul Williams stepped up to middleweight for a serious test, and won the fight going away, outpointing veteran Winky Wright by scores of 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109. My official BLH scorecard had it 116-112 for Williams, and while all the BLH commenters scoring along had it within the same range, two things were sure: None of us agreed on it being 11-1 or 12-0 for Paul, but we all felt Paul Williams won the fight for sure.
Williams (37-1, 26 KO) now might look to go back to 147 to fight Shane Mosley, who is out of the Mayweather sweepstakes and has no "next opponent" clearly lined up as he waits on the results of Hatton-Pacquiao and Cotto-Clottey.
For Wright (51-5-1, 25 KO) this is something of a step back, and he got beat up a bit, but the fight was lost partially, I feel, on ring rust. There were moments in the middle rounds where it looked like he had weathered Williams' insane volume punching and had turned the fight his way. But the problem was Williams just didn't stop punching. A younger, more in-shape Wright may have found a way out of that. He also may not have. But there is no reason to call for a Winky Wright retirement. At 37, he can still give a lot of guys serious problems, and I mean top-flight guys like Pavlik or Abraham.
On the undercard, Chris Arreola improved to 27-0 with his 24th knockout, a fourth-round stoppage of big vet Jameel McCline (39-10-3, 23 KO). McCline gassed very early, and Arreola seemed to be tiring a bit, too, but then Chris floored him and that was it. McCline showed no desire to continue on. It is possible we've seen McCline for the final time, but someone will undoubtedly make him an offer again to fight a young gun. All things considered, there are worse vets to fight than McCline for young heavies.
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I had it 10 rounds to 2 in favor of Williams, so that would be 118-110 on my card. Wright just had no chance. The punches that he did land were trumped by Williams’ work rate and even better clean punches.
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill
I had it 118-110 as well
I know most here thought Wright held his own, but to me it looked almost like a total domination by Williams. Might watch the fight again tomorrow to see if it was actually closer.
I think it's a matter of taste
I could see it 118-110 for PW. I really could. There were close rounds, like any Winky fight. But Paul’s workrate took over in the second half, especially in the last four rounds or so.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Apr 12, 2009 1:13 AM EDT up reply actions
Other random fight news
Nobuo Nashiro defended his title in Japan.
Raul Garcia defended his minimumweight title. He’s slowly building up a good record in an overlooked weight class.
Vyechislav Senchenko beat Yuriy Nuzhnenko for one of the biggest joke belts out there right now, the WBA welterweight title, which for no good apparent reason whatsoever Shane Mosley has the super title, even though Cotto never unified or defended enough to have a super title created. Anyway, this basically means that the undefeated Senchenko is Mosley’s mandatory, and I’d bet a lot of money that Mosley would sooner give up the belt than be forced to fight a complete no-name at this point in his career.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
the raul garcia fight was actaully pretty entertaining. those little guys can throw bombs. i would like to see raul straighten up those punches though. there were many times in that fight where rayito basically had his arms stretched out horizontally before looping it towards barrera’s head
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Apr 12, 2009 1:45 AM EDT up reply actions
More News
Small Hall boxing at its best , John O’Donnell took Craig Watson Commonwealth Welterweight title in a Real close contested fight. Good to watch.
Hyped Up Tyson Fury blew away Matthew Ellis in about 43 seconds, Very impressive from the big novice.
Mainstream is brought to you ..
Underground you got to go there...
I had it one-sided for PW. Wright may have won the first, maybe one of the middle rounds but for most of the fight and especially the late rounds, PW was dominant
A technician needs finetuning and it showed tonight. Winky looked a little rusty and his timing seemed off. However, it definitley isn’t the end of the road for him. If his ego can take it, he needs to fight a fringe contender and then somebody in the lower half of the top-10 before going back into the deep end of the pool. He needs to get some dominant rounds under his belt and get his timing back as close to prelayoff levels as he can get it.
Winky
There’s also the possibility of him going to Germany and fighting Sturm if Felix’s promoters have the balls. Winky is open to fighting overseas.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Apr 12, 2009 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions
By the way, Joe Cortez is a joke. The guy repeatedly warned Williams when Wright would repeatedly grab the back of Paul’s head and bring it down. It was a joke.
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill
The best one
was where Cortez warned Williams for hitting and holding when Winky was holding Williams’s right arm, and Williams actually somehow reached under his arm to uppercut Winky. Can’t say I remember ever seeing something like that before.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
It was almost as good as Tyson Fury punching himself in the face
If you haven’t seen it look it up on youtube. One of the funniest and weirdest things I have ever seen.
The HBO team made Winky sound Joel Casamayor-esque at times with the way they were analyzing what was happening in the clinches.
he was doing some quality dirty work
YOU DIDN’T COUNT ON MY LOYAL ARMY OF PROSTITUTES
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Apr 12, 2009 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions
I had it 11-1 in favor of Williams
Giving Winky more then 3 rounds is giving him every benefit of the doubt. Williams showed he is a class above Winky at this point and completely dominated him. If someone had it a shutout for Williams I could see it.
i thought there was no way a shut-out would be called. at least 2 of the first 4 rounds could have easily gone to winky, but whatever he still would have lost anyway i guess.
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Apr 12, 2009 1:46 AM EDT reply actions
Did anyone else laugh when Merchant said Arreola could revitalize the Heavyweight division? I’m sorry, but that’s not happening. The guy is fat, slow, and lazy. God forbid he runs into a Klitschko or even Haye because he’d be brutalized into next millennium without so much as a peep. The guy has power, but I’d hope so when you’re that big. He lacks the self-control to be a (major) world champion. That’s just the truth. Until he gets a viable work ethic, I hope all talk about him as a legitimate contender in the Heavyweight division is squashed. He beat up a 38-year old, washed up, even fatter than himself, Jameel McCline. Big deal. He needs to beat someone like Samuel Peter or Nikolay Valuev for me to take him as a serious threat. Until then, leave him where he belongs which is the undercard of great main event fights. All he is to me is nothing more than boxing’s version of Roger Huerta. He was a rising prospect that was built up due to him having a popular following in another country (Mexico) despite being born in the United States. He’s there to sell tickets to the Latino community. Nothing more, nothing less. And it’s best served that they keep him right where he is because until he proves he’s ready for the big time there’s no use putting him in against the absolute best. Those being either Klitschko or Haye.
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill
I'm with you
And even if he does do something good, it’s still a sadsack division so there wouldn’t be enough other good fights around to ‘revitalize’ the division. Sure, he’s exciting, but he still has yet to show that he’s very good. I may write something on this.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Beating Valuev or Peters would prove nothing.
His career is starting to resemble Peter without the title yet. And Valuev is a joke he has arguable lost to two crappy heavyweight. First to win the title from Ruiz and again against Holyfield.
I doubt Chris will revitalize the heavyweight division but he brings excitement and I think that is what he meant. I agree with that and wish more heavies would go on an all out attack.
I like Chris’s straight right hand, his overhand right, his hunger and his gung-ho style. That said, he is nowhere near ready to take on the top of the division (and — sadly — that includes Iggy and Chaggy). I would pick Chambers to beat Arreola, particularly because Chris pops his chin WAY up an wags it like a puppy’s tail when he comes off throwing that overhand right or popping up to throw off a combination. Even a young McCline wouldn’t have dealt with those mistakes effectively, but I think Chambers could and would frustrate and outbox Chris if they fought tommorow.
That said, I want to see him maul Valuev… not because I dislike him, but because a boxing match isn’t supposed to be something you watch in between the Bearded Lady and the Dancing Bears. In the beginning, I thought his career was a mostly harmless novelty act starring a nice guy who was trying very hard to improve his ability. Now its just a sham and an ugly game of playing keep away with a belt. Send Arreola in there, and I think he will end it.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
I don't think Chambers has enough power to deter Arreola
Chambers might outbox him early, but eventually Arreola would just walk through him. To win, Chambers would basically need to hope that Arreola gasses, which is a distinct possibility.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
We still haven't seen Chris in the marathon match
I smell a gas leak there, personally.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
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