Paul Williams Says Three More Fights and Retirement

by Scott Christ on Jun 28, 2011 8:19 PM EDT in Boxing News Analysis

Paul Williams says that Erislandy Lara will be one of his final opponents. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Paul "The Punisher" Williams will return to the junior middleweight division on July 9 against Erislandy Lara, and tells BoxingScene.com's Lem Satterfield that retirement is in his near future:

"When I retire, in about two years, they're going to say, 'He never ducked nobody,'" said Williams. "After two more fights, if HBO wants to do it and the fans want it, I'm up for it. But after three more fights -- though my trainer says two more -- I want to be done with boxing."

I don't go on board with the Williams "most ducked fighter" routine, but I don't go in for anyone being the most ducked fighter because it's just a promotional nickname that gets passed down the line constantly, but I can agree that Paul never ducked anybody.

Still, I tire of the retirement talk from all these guys. It's not that I'm saying they should fight forever to please me. I don't really care if guys retire young and get out with their money. But just go about your business and retire when you want to, because otherwise it comes off as more lame promotional stuff. "Ooh, I better watch this guy, he'll retire soon!" Plus we know they probably won't. Roy Jones Jr wasn't going to hang on either.

Also Dan Rafael mentioned on Twitter that a crap 126-pound trinket fight has been made for the off-TV undercard on July 9. Jhonny Gonzalez (48-7, 42 KO) will defend his WBC strap against Tomas Villa (23-7-4, 14 KO). Villa hasn't fought in a year and is realistically far from a contender. Gonzalez was previously rumored to be fighting Roinet Caballero. This is not a step up.

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Disappointing to hear, Paul the Punisher has been one of my favorite fighters since he outfought Antonio Margarito way back when. But truth be told, I don’t really see him staying around for much longer anyway, with or without this retirement talk. He isn’t the “most ducked fighter” or anything but it’s not like fighters such as Miguel Cotto are lining up to fight him either.

I really think Paul’s floating between weight classes has hurt his career a lot. To be seen as a fighter who will “fight at any weight 147-160” he has sacrificed having a significant presence in any of those divisions. He’s years removed from fighting at welterweight and has no accolades either at super welter or middleweight. It’s tough to get a measure of where he stands compared to the other fighters at those weights, and as a result other fighters have no real incentive to fight him. Hopefully he can get some big fights in the future provided he comes out ahead against Lara, which I think he should.

by theninthlayer on Jun 28, 2011 8:46 PM EDT reply actions

I think one of the major reasons he kept changing divisions is b/c nobody was lining up to fight him in any one particular division………………………….until Sergio came along.

If he takes Lara, the rubber match with Sergio is the obvious move for both fighters.

by DPlainview on Jun 28, 2011 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions