Paul Williams (boxer)

Paul Williams
Data
Birth Name	Paul Williams
Fight name	The Punisher
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	July 27, 1981
place of birth	Aiken
style	Legal display
size	1.85 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	43
Victories	41
Knockout victories	27
Defeats	2

Paul Williams (born July 27, 1981 in Augusta , Georgia , USA ) is a former American professional boxer and former two-time WBO welterweight champion.

Career

The tall southpaw Williams had only about twenty amateur fights and turned pro in 2000 under the name The Punisher at the age of 19. It was built up relatively slowly. He won his debut on July 21 on points against Jeremy Mickelson. His subsequent 13 fights he won all by knockout, where he never had to stand in the ring for more than five rounds.

On April 22, 2005, he achieved a unanimous victory over the former North American champion and Olympic bronze medalist Terrance Cauthen . On April 12, 2006 he competed at the TV event "ESPN Wednesday Night Fights" against Sergio Rios to fight for the United States National Title of the WBC welterweight and defeated the Californian by knockout in the second round. Just over a month later he defended the title through tKo in the tenth round against the undefeated Argentine Walter Matthysse (25-0, 24 K. o.), Thereby also winning the North American championship title of the WBO and in August 2006 also defeated Sharmba Mitchell (57-5) by tKo in the fourth round.

Unbeaten in 31 professional fights, he entered the ring on July 14, 2007 against the Mexican Antonio Margarito (34-4), who was avoided by many top boxers and who at that time carried the WBO welterweight title. Williams was able to prevail surprisingly with his boxing technique and was finally declared the winner by all three judges with 115: 113, 115: 113 and 116: 112. Williams had thus established himself at the top of the world, but surprisingly lost his first title defense himself by losing points to the Puerto Rican Carlos Quintana (24-1). In a direct rematch four months later, Williams regained the title when he defeated Quintana in the first round.

Instead of defending the title, he put it down and rose to light middleweight, where he defeated former world champion Verno Phillips (42-10) by knockout in the eighth round in November 2008 . For this win, Williams was named interim world champion of the WBO. In April 2009 he won unanimously on points against the former five-time world champion Ronald Wright (51-4).

He had a major middleweight win on December 5, 2009 in Atlantic City against Sergio Martínez (44-1). In the powerful duel, in which, according to CompuBox, over 1,600 blows, including over 550 impact hits, were dealt and both boxers had to accept a knockdown, Williams was able to prevail after twelve rounds with 119: 110, 115: 113 and 114: 114 by majority decision of the judges . In May 2010 he met the Puerto Rican Kermit Cintrón (32-2). After four even laps, Williams stumbled so miserably that he threw Cintrón out of the ring. This could not continue the fight due to injuries, so the point cards were evaluated and Williams was declared the winner.

On November 20, 2010, he went to the long-awaited rematch against Sergio Martínez. The fight took place again in the middleweight division and in Atlantic City. Martínez had meanwhile surprisingly defeated Kelly Pavlik and was now world champion of the WBC. After a spectacular first round, Williams was knocked out difficultly after one minute in the second round with a left hook; the precipitation was voted knockout of the year by “ The Ring ” , among others .

After this severe defeat, Williams paused for over seven months and did not return to the ring until July 2011. He won just on points against the undefeated Cuban and amateur world champion Erislandy Lara (15-0). He won another points in February 2012 against the Japanese Nobuhiro Ishida (24-6), who had previously sensationally defeated James Kirkland .

Motorcycle accident

On May 27, 2012, Paul Williams had an accident with his motorcycle in Atlanta and was hospitalized with very serious injuries. He is currently paralyzed from the waist down.

Web links

• Paul Williams in the BoxRec database

predecessor	Office	successor
Antonio Margarito	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) July 14, 2007 - February 9, 2008	Carlos Quintana
Carlos Quintana	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) June 7, 2008 - November 12, 2008	Miguel Cotto