Matchroom Boxing: Baker Calls For Danny Williams To Retire

Danny Williams should retire from professional boxing, according to the man who beat him in Friday’s Prizefighter Heavyweights III.

Carl ‘The Fridge’ Baker, 27, stunned the boxing world when he claimed a points victory over British Champion Williams in their three-round contest at London’s ExCel Arena.

Baker, who had only fought once in three years before Barry Hearn’s latest Prizefighter tournament, floored Williams twice in the first 90 seconds of their quarter-final fight.

“I think he should hang up his gloves,” said Baker. “Danny said before the event he would retire if he didn’t win and I hope he does.

“Some papers had me down as a journeyman, which was a bit unfair. But after I beat Danny like that, I wouldn’t want to see someone else do that to him as well.

“When you’re getting beaten like that from a novice you should get out of there. To be honest, I shouldn’t have been in the same ring as Danny Williams and wouldn’t have been normally away from Prizefighter.

“He ended Mike Tyson’s career and got in with Vitali Klitschko for the world title so can be proud of what he has achieved.”

Baker lost in the Prizefighter semi-finals to Ireland’s Coleman Barrett, who then lost in the final to former Olympic gold medalist Audley Harrison.

Williams, 36, is likely to be stripped of his British title later this month and Baker, who has won nine of 13 professional fights, wants a crack at the Lonsdale belt.

“As I’ve just beaten the British Champion, if that title becomes vacant I would love to fight for it,” added Baker.

“If not, I will just continue doing what I do and a lot of people will be thinking ‘let’s beat the kid that beat Danny’. Beating Danny will do wonders for my career.

“I don’t remember much of the fight or what hand I knocked him down with, I was just on auto-pilot.

“I remember thinking ‘where has Danny gone’ and that maybe he’d stepped around the side of me but then I realised I’d put him down and couldn’t believe it.

“He’s fought Mike Tyson who couldn’t do that and John McDermott also couldn’t put him down. My first knockdown was in only 20 seconds. Has anyone ever done that to Danny before?

“Before Prizefighter when I told my friends I was boxing Danny everyone started laughing and when I read off the names of people in Prizefighter, everyone was saying ‘you can’t win so don’t enter it’.

“I walked into work (at an internet company in Sheffield) to a round of applause and it has put me on such a high. All I needed was a bit of self-belief and this has shown people what I can do.”