Looking over the stats, it's just incredible how active Williams was against Winky. Throwing 106 punches in round 12 is beastly. Paul threw almost 1100 punches total to Winky's 511, and they landed at the same rate. Pretty incredible offensive performance from Williams.

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CompuBox PunchStat Report

Paul Williams  W 12  Winky Wright
04/11/2009    LAS VEGAS

“The Punisher” kept the heat on Winky all night, averaging 91 punches thrown per round, 30 more than the middleweight average.  Williams threw 104 punches in round one and 106 in round 12 to close the show.   Williams mixed in 35 jabs per round, never letting Winky land more than one good shot at a time.

Total Punches Landed / Thrown

Jabs Landed / Thrown

Power Punches Landed / Thrown

Final PunchStat Report

                                                    Punches  Landed / Thrown

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.

HBO World Championship Boxing starts live at 10pm ET, and we'll be here with live, round-by-round coverage, scoring, analysis and BS for both fights. We hope you'll join us for the return of Winky Wright, and Paul Williams' first real test at 160 pounds!

Dan Rafael sums up what most of us probably expected out of this fight, plopped down in Vegas despite the fact that neither fighter has much of a following (despite both being great fighters):

Matt (Minneapolis): What is the atmosphere like out there? Will the fight draw 5,000? Kind of a weird fight from a fan standpoint since neither guy has a big following.

Dan Rafael: Atmosphere? There is none. It's dead dude.

Both photos by Will Hart at HBO.

Here we go again on our own...

This weekend's HBO World Championship Boxing doubleheader will just be part of a night of the sweet science on the network.

At 8pm, the documentary Thrilla in Manila will air for the first time ever. The fight has been talked to death over the last three decades, but HBO has a keen eye for quality sports documentary/etc. programming, so I really expect it to be nothing less than excellent.

At 9:30, the new "24/7" series covering Hatton-Pacquiao airs its debut episode. And then at 10 we head to Vegas for live fights. Should be a fun night for fight fans.

Let's get pickin'.

Paul Williams v. Winky Wright (Middleweights, 12 Rounds)

This one is a pain to try to predict. Winky Wright is unquestionably the best fighter Paul Williams has ever faced -- period. Paul has some good wins (Margarito, Quintana, Verno, etc.) but nobody who's headed to the Hall as Winky likely is. These are two of the decade's most avoided fighters. Winky couldn't get anyone to fight him before Shane Mosley took the challenge and lost twice to Wright. Since the second Mosley win in November 2004, Wright has fought just five times, though, going 3-1-1. He's beaten and embarrassed Tito Trinidad, beaten Sam Soliman, drawn with Jermain Taylor, beaten an old Ike Quartey and lost to Bernard Hopkins. Nothing to be ashamed of with the loss and the draw -- B-Hop is a legend and Taylor was middleweight champion of hte world -- but those are really his three wins since November 2004. Blown-up Tito, journeyman Soliman, and washed-up Bazooka Quartey.

Williams has turned into half a damn barnstormer since emphatically knocking the crap out of Quintana to avenge his one pro loss, fighting Andy Kolle at middleweight and Verno Phillips at 154 pounds because he couldn't get anyone else to fight him.

As always, Williams' 82" reach is going to be a big deal. It's not even that Williams uses it as effectively as he could; he's just as good if not better fighting in close than he is at a distance. It's just that the other guy always has to take it into account. If Williams starts firing a long jab, you have to be prepared for it, or he keeps guys at bay all night long in theory. The longest guy Winky's ever fought was Taylor (78" reach), followed by Bernard (75" reach). He had trouble with both of them, which I'm only noting because it's true, not becaue they're at all similar to Williams.

Williams, on the other hand, has never looked comfortable fighting fellow southpaws. Carlos Quintana gave him hell in their first fight but Williams was able to get him out quick in the rematch. That big ferocious assault in the second fight was no coincidence, I don't think. Williams knew he couldn't let Quintana get his timing down again or it'd be another long night.

Since we've been talking chins lately, Winky's has never shown any issue. He also just doesn't get hit clean very often. His guard is exceptionally tight, even famously so. He'll block all night long. Block and jab, block and jab, the Winky Wright formula. Wink's idea will be to slow Williams down, same as it's been in almost all of his other big fights. Williams has to break right, which is a tall order.

I feel like writing a Bill Plaschke column with this fight. "In one locker room, the young champion, confident, poised, loose, dreaming of bigger days to come. In the other locker room, the old fighter, stoic, focused, remembering bigger days past." And then the young / old thing goes on for several more alleged paragraphs.

I have no idea about this fight, because Winky Wright's been gone so long it's half a mystery how he'll look, how he'll fight, what sort of shape he's in, what kind of gas tank he has left, if he really wants it anymore, and so on. With that on my head, I have to side with youth. But it won't be easy. Williams SD-12

Chris Arreola v. Jamee McCline (Heavyweights, 12 Rounds)

To further illustrate just how long Williams is, Jameel McCline is a 6'6", 270ish-pound man. His reach is exactly the same as P-Will's.

This is a fight between a couple of fellas who -- all due respect on both sides -- don't exactly go around missing meals in camp. "Big Time" McCline is 38 years old and coming off of a 12-round decision win over knockaround guy Mike Mollo last November in one of the WBC's countless eliminator fights. He hasn't been a legit contender in years and it doesn't figure he'll ever be one again.

Arreola, 28, really needs to be impressive this time out. He showed some chinks in the armor against enthusiastic slugger Travis Walker in his last fight, going down in the second round under a furious assault from Walker before storming back to end it mightily in the third frame. If Arreola has problems with the big man this Saturday, I can't really foresee him ever being a heavyweight force.

Dedication has been his main issue so far. He's got real power, he sits down on punches fairly well when he puts the effort in, and he's shown he knows how to finish a fight. He also has a legit amateur background; the guy can box a little. But his weight has fluctuated wildly. At 6'4", he started his career around 235-240 pounds. He got down to a career-low 229 in 2006 when he fought Damian Wills. The last two fights he's been a sloppy-looking 258 1/2 and 254 pounds. That 258 is a 30-pound jump from the Wills fight. If he got himself down to 230-235, he could be really dangerous. But he admittedly slacks off.

I don't think he'll have much trouble with McCline, yet another in a string of hand-picked showcase opponents. HBO is invested in his short-term future at the very least. Jameel, pretty likeable guy that he is, is just there to make the younger guy look good. He probably hasn't been told that, though. Arreola TKO-6, but I do think McCline will have some moments that make Arreola really turn it on

When fight fans tune in to HBO on Saturday night, they'll see something they haven't seen in just shy of two years: Winky Wright in action.

Wright, who has been largely AWOL from the public eye since his July 2007 decision loss to Bernard Hopkins, gets back in the ring in a return to middleweight to take on divisional chameleon Paul Williams in one of the most intriguing fights on the schedule right now.

Any time a fighter is absent for any real period of time, the usual questions surface. How much is left? Does this guy even want to fight? How much rust will he have?

And with Winky, there's been no tune-up, despite his efforts to take one in December on Vs. and early this year on HBO if he could work it out. Instead, the 37-year old Wright (51-4-1, 25 KO) faces the dangerous Williams (36-1, 27 KO) right off the bat.

Wright is also not your average fighter. Not only is he skilled, but the skills he builds his game upon probably won't have aged terribly. The legendary defensive genius probably won't change anything. Hands high, guard up, workin' the jab. Williams, a former welterweight titlist who now holds a 154-pound title and is fighting now for the second time at 160, has youth, his freakish, heavyweight-worthy reach (82" to Wright's 72"), and readiness on his side. He's turned into a barnstormer almost, fighting anywhere, against anyone, in any weight class that'll have him.

Wright hasn't faced anyone as aggressive as Williams in years, either since his second meeting with Shane Mosley in 2004 or his 2005 destruction of another former welterweight star, Felix Trinidad (if you want to give Trinidad credit for still being all that good in 2005).

Hopkins, a blown-up Ike Quartey and a half-focused Jermain Taylor have been Wink's last three opponents. At an advanced age and with little power to back Williams off, can he really slow his opponent down enough to win? If Williams gets on him early, which I expect he will to test Winky's legs, is Wright going to punch back enough to stay in it on the scorecards, or will he go into a shell and try to change Paul's approach?

No one is ever going to question Wright's defensive genius, even now. I fully expect Winky to come back as one of the game's top defensive fighters, and given that that's always been his calling card, I don't expect him to be anything less than a good fighter upon return. My questions center more on conditioning, desire, and an ability to hang with a younger, assumedly hungrier fighter that is fighting to get more big fights. What's Winky fighting for?

At the same time, maybe Wink's as hungry as ever. He still remains a fighter most guys don't want to face, just like his opponent. If the old Winky Wright shows up on Saturday night, Williams will have his hands very full.

According to Dan Rafael's Notebook, the postponed rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver has been rescheduled for May 9. The fight was originally scheduled for March 14, but delayed due to a minor hand injury suffered by Dawson in training. They could put this fight on any day and it's no more interesting than it was when originally announced.

Also from Rafael's notes:

• Chris Arreola will likely face Jameel McCline on April 11. McCline, though big, is no threat to a guy as ferocious as Arreola. "The Nightmare" will likely just overwhelm him due to aggressiveness. I can already see McCline backing down, trying to cover up while Arreola throws massive right haymakers.
• Miguel Cotto will be back on June 13, as expected. He'll face either Joshua Clottey (my choice), Kermit Cintron or Andre Berto. He'd destroy Cintron.
• Showtime has agreed to televise Lamont Peterson-Willy Blain as the featured undercard bout on April 4, beneath the Bradley-Holt junior welterweight title unification. Details are being finalized with the camp for Blain (20-0, 3 KO).
• The Cesar Canchila-Giovanni Segura rematch will happen on March 14, not on the Tijuana Thunder PPV on March 28. The rematch also means Ivan Calderon is back to looking for an opponent. As much as I want Calderon to face a good opponent, Canchila-Segura definitely deserves a rematch.
• Alexander Povetkin will return to the ring on April 4 against ex-U.S. Olympian and powerless heavyweight Jason "Big Six" Estrada. Estrada talks a pretty good game and has talent, but Povetkin is in another class.

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times reports that promoter Dan Goossen brought up the possibility of his fighter, Paul Williams, taking on former middleweight and light heavyweight world champion at 168 pounds sometime in the future. Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer declined to comment on the idea.

Williams will be facing the returning Winky Wright, who lost to Hopkins in his last fight in 2007, on April 11 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Pugmire also reports that the fight -- which probably belongs somewhere else -- is being "economically priced." You can get a ticket and room package as cheap as $210 combined for the fight, which is nice to see. It's also because Vegas is a ghost town these days.

Wright commented that he wished he hadn't taken so long off, but he's back to prove himself as one of the best in the world still. Vegas has Williams as a -160 favorite.

Williams not only wants Hopkins, but middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, welterweight titlist Shane Mosley and retired two-division champion Joe Calzaghe. He will likely get none of them. I could see Mosley fighting him because Shane's made a career of giving guys chances to fight him when they weren't huge money deals (including Winky), but this is an old Shane at the end of his career, too. Still a great fighter, but he's just logically near the end of his line. Paul simply isn't worth much money, as good as he is.