NEW YORK — Paul Williams won't refer to his return to the ring Saturday night as a comeback.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE
Paul Williams expects to enjoy more post-fight celebrations, beginning Saturday against Erislandy Lara at Atlantic City.
The former welterweight and junior middleweight champion fought twice apiece in 2009 and '10, thus there's nothing unusual about boxing for the first time in seven months. Still, there's nothing ordinary about Williams' 12-round, 154-pound fight against Erislandy Lara at Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Ballroom in Atlantic City.
No matter what Williams or his handlers say, this is unlike any fight in the tall, talented southpaw's 11-year pro career. Williams (39-2, 27 KOs) hasn't fought since a devastating one-punch, second-round knockout loss to Sergio Martinez in their Nov. 20 middleweight rematch at Boardwalk Hall.
Williams, an Augusta, Ga., native, insists he feels just as good today as he did before Martinez's picture-perfect left hand knocked him unconscious. Fighters often aren't the same mentally and/or physically after suffering such scary, confidence-crushing knockouts, though, and we won't know whether Williams will remain competitive at the elite level until witnessing how he fares against Lara in their HBO "Boxing After Dark" main event.
"People that think I'm washed up," Williams said, "I can prove to them it's not so."
Williams reasons that it would've been worse had he absorbed a lot of punishment in a long, brutal bout before getting knocked out. His trainer, George Peterson, feels as though critics are writing off Williams without taking into account that he's just 29 and commonly was considered one of the top five pound-for-pound boxers in the world prior to losing to Martinez.
Peterson said he and Williams are eager to silence the doubters.
"He can't wait and I can't wait until this is resolved," Peterson said.
Williams wants to fight three more times before retiring to concentrate on real estate ventures in South Carolina. He hopes to meet Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs) in a rubber match in his next fight, yet he realizes Lara isn't the overmatched opponent Williams would've preferred in his first fight since the Martinez mishap.
"I would love a 'gimme' fight," Williams said, "but they don't ever give me those kinds of fights."
Williams originally was scheduled to box Japan's Nobuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KOs), who scored a huge upset by stopping heavy-handed contender James Kirkland (28-1, 25 KOs) in the first round April 9 in Las Vegas. But HBO Sports executives pressed Williams to face someone more formidable and they settled on Lara, a decorated Cuban amateur who defected in 2008.
"I'm not preparing for the Paul Williams that got knocked out in two rounds by Martinez," said Lara, 28. "We are preparing for the Paul Williams that beat the Winky Wrights and guys like that. I have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time and this is my chance to shine."
Lara (15-0-1, 10 KOs) suspects Williams wouldn't have agreed to fight him if Lara hadn't settled for a majority draw March 25 in his last fight against Carlos Molina (18-4-2, 6 KOs) in Las Vegas.
"I took the last fight lightly and had a bad night," Lara said. "Anybody can have a bad night. This time it's going to be a different story."
E-mail: idec@northjersey.com
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE
Paul Williams expects to enjoy more post-fight celebrations, beginning Saturday against Erislandy Lara at Atlantic City.
The former welterweight and junior middleweight champion fought twice apiece in 2009 and '10, thus there's nothing unusual about boxing for the first time in seven months. Still, there's nothing ordinary about Williams' 12-round, 154-pound fight against Erislandy Lara at Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Ballroom in Atlantic City.
No matter what Williams or his handlers say, this is unlike any fight in the tall, talented southpaw's 11-year pro career. Williams (39-2, 27 KOs) hasn't fought since a devastating one-punch, second-round knockout loss to Sergio Martinez in their Nov. 20 middleweight rematch at Boardwalk Hall.
Williams, an Augusta, Ga., native, insists he feels just as good today as he did before Martinez's picture-perfect left hand knocked him unconscious. Fighters often aren't the same mentally and/or physically after suffering such scary, confidence-crushing knockouts, though, and we won't know whether Williams will remain competitive at the elite level until witnessing how he fares against Lara in their HBO "Boxing After Dark" main event.
"People that think I'm washed up," Williams said, "I can prove to them it's not so."
Williams reasons that it would've been worse had he absorbed a lot of punishment in a long, brutal bout before getting knocked out. His trainer, George Peterson, feels as though critics are writing off Williams without taking into account that he's just 29 and commonly was considered one of the top five pound-for-pound boxers in the world prior to losing to Martinez.
Peterson said he and Williams are eager to silence the doubters.
"He can't wait and I can't wait until this is resolved," Peterson said.
Williams wants to fight three more times before retiring to concentrate on real estate ventures in South Carolina. He hopes to meet Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs) in a rubber match in his next fight, yet he realizes Lara isn't the overmatched opponent Williams would've preferred in his first fight since the Martinez mishap.
"I would love a 'gimme' fight," Williams said, "but they don't ever give me those kinds of fights."
Williams originally was scheduled to box Japan's Nobuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KOs), who scored a huge upset by stopping heavy-handed contender James Kirkland (28-1, 25 KOs) in the first round April 9 in Las Vegas. But HBO Sports executives pressed Williams to face someone more formidable and they settled on Lara, a decorated Cuban amateur who defected in 2008.
"I'm not preparing for the Paul Williams that got knocked out in two rounds by Martinez," said Lara, 28. "We are preparing for the Paul Williams that beat the Winky Wrights and guys like that. I have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time and this is my chance to shine."
Lara (15-0-1, 10 KOs) suspects Williams wouldn't have agreed to fight him if Lara hadn't settled for a majority draw March 25 in his last fight against Carlos Molina (18-4-2, 6 KOs) in Las Vegas.
"I took the last fight lightly and had a bad night," Lara said. "Anybody can have a bad night. This time it's going to be a different story."
E-mail: idec@northjersey.com
