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Paul Williams will be facing Nobuhiro Ishida, this is the guy who KO'd James Kirkland. He's going back to jr. middleweight, which i think is a good move. The division is pretty wide open, maybe he can get a fight with Cotto, or Canelo later on. Although he says he wants Martinez for a third time after this fight.
Paul Williams, Nobuhiro Ishida agree to July fight at 155 - ESPN
Bit poor for a main event this to be honest.
Williams does need a tune up, so I have no issues with this match up. I am glad he is back, it has been a long time. Hopefully we see a few refinements.
I agree he does need a tune up, it will have been 9 months once this fight happens. i think he can be a force at 154 if thats were he plans to stay.Quote:
Originally Posted by miles
Williams should take care of business against Ishida, the Kirkland fight was a fluke, I do think Williams-Ishida, will be entertaining however, while it lasts.Quote:
Originally Posted by MMASUX
As for Williams wanting a 3rd fight with Martinez, good luck with that, Martinez has bigger fish to fry. Fights with Canelo or Cotto seem possible.
Call me bat shit crazy...I think Ishida can give Williams all sorts of problems. For a guy coming off a clean cut 1st round ko loss to see a very experienced & peaking, confident Ishida as anything less then a serious threat could come back to bite him on the ass big time. Looking forward to this one.
Right on. I may not like HBO's choice, but I like Williams. You raised the right issue. Will he have learned and improved or is he who he is?Quote:
Originally Posted by miles
As a buddy of mine said about how Williams should fight "Stand tall and jab, jab, jab tall man!"
I'm glad Williams is back. I hope he gets a good KO victory here. He seems like one of the good guys of the sport and after such a stunning KO defeat he needs the tune up to shake rust and to get some confidence back. I wouldn't write him off beating Martinez in a rubber match as long as he looks at his mistakes carefully. As for Cotto and Alvarez, providing the loss to Martinez hasn't left too much damage I think he beats both.
I recall Williams fighting his height and range vs Margarito....other then that we have been waiting forever it seems. His defense is his offense and he falls all over his own height, bends in and loops shots. I dont think he ever beats Martinez and should avoid him at all costs.
I really dont get how people can say Martinez has bigger fish to fry. Williams didnt have to give him the rematch and most wouldnt have done it, so now Martinez wins and its on to bigger fish....hypocrites. What bigger fish exactly? He's not getting a Pac fight, I doubt Martinez goes to light middle for anyone besides Pac. Canelo doesnt seem ready. Mayweather is highly unlikely. Only bigger fish I see is possibly Felix Sturm, if the fish are actually just dollar signs. He's gonna have to go to Germany most likely. I could see him moving up to 168 for money fights as well, but at middle Williams is one of the bigger fish. What if vasquez did the same thing? Oh I beat Marquez by ko, I got nothing to prove anymore. We wouldnt have gotten the best fight out of the series between them.
Bit different mate, Marquez didnt get KTFO with one punch, Martinez ko's Williams again if it happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by No Contest
Quote:
Originally Posted by No Contest
A hypocrite? I don't think so, but thanks for the insult.
Just saying, Williams needs to get himself back in the mix and prove he's still a player before he can start thinking about a rematch with Martinez. And why would Martinez want a rematch with a guy he's already destroyed? And I also doubt that, right now, because of the brutal KO, there's much interest in a trilogy.
Like I said, Paul needs to get himself back in contention first, and Martinez has "bigger fish to fry", if saying this makes me a hypocrite in your eyes, I think I can live with it.
Bingo!Quote:
Originally Posted by skel1983Bit different mate, Marquez didnt get KTFO with one punch, Martinez ko's Williams again if it happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by No Contest
This is a horrible main event. First, HBO turns down Zbik as an opponent for Martinez and then they turn down Ishida as an opponent for Martinez. Now, Zbik is fighting Chavez Jr. and Williams is fighting Ishidal...on HBO!
Williams should have a tune-up, but tune-ups for a guy who most recently was KO'd don't belong on HBO. They belong on ESPN or off cable. Talk about favoritism. If anything the boxer taking all the tough challenges, should get the tune-up on the premium cable network, not the guy loser.
Skel was on point with his response. Just to add, Williams is planning on staying at junior middleweight for the foreseeable future. His team doesn't want a fight with Martinez now and not until he makes a move to 60', which from what I understand, is unlikely for the time being. It make sense too because there are more money fights at 54'.Quote:
Originally Posted by No Contest
I don't think it's a "horrible" main event, after all it's not PPV, however i am suprised that Chavez jr's fight is on BAD and not on some Top Rank Latin Fury #76 PPV. How that guy gets all these PPV's is beyond me, who pays to watch him fight?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rantcatrat
Horrible is an exageration, but I don't believe this is HBO-worthy unless any Paul Williams fight is HBO-worthy.Quote:
Originally Posted by MMASUXI don't think it's a "horrible" main event, after all it's not PPV, however i am suprised that Chavez jr's fight is on BAD and not on some Top Rank Latin Fury #76 PPV. How that guy gets all these PPV's is beyond me, who pays to watch him fight?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rantcatrat
I would like to see that fine upstanding young man of Japanese heritage beat Paul Williams. Then get a shot at Martinez. It would be a cinderella story like Carlos Baldomir had a few years back !
ishida is a nice easy come back fight. Ask quintana what's gonna happen.
I hope Williams come back, he has entertained and taken difficult fights. Hope he gets his rewards.
Good fight for Paul. Hope he wins then go out and fight Vanes (something). That way, if he wins, he can be rank #1 across the board for a title shot.
I'm not going to state I'm not excited about seeing Paul Williams back in action because I am. I didn't mean to sound too anti-Paul before. I am, and was, a big fan of his. I just believe that HBO should use its resources to make great fights and that this is NOT a great fight. It's a weak fight at best. It belongs on espn or as an off-tv undercard.
Does everyone know that Paul Williams turned down Pawel Wolak, Deandre Latimore, and Sergiy Dzinziruk as opponents? One thing for sure, after his KO loss to Sergio, he definitely isn't "the most feared man on the planet" anymore. Not when you turn down Pawel Wolak and Deandre Latimore.
This would be cool as a co-event on the undercard but as a main event it's pretty bad unless they paid absolute peanuts for it.
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Originally Posted by Rantcatrat
Wow. I didn't know that. But out of the 3 opponents you name, Dzinziruk is the only opponent worth the risk. He's a champion and fought like a champion against Martinez. But, I guess Paul and his team didn't want to chance a career loss. The other two, I will favor Paul winning. The crazy thing is, if Paul is really asking for a 3rd fight against Martinez, why would he turn down anyone else?
BTW, IMO, this is a good fight for Paul Williams. Dude just beat a fighter in Kirkland in which was proclaimed as being a top contender and treat to any of the champions at 154. So if Paul can defeat him, his ranking will raise if not his stock. And then maybe one more fight before considering one of the champion. My vote will be Vanes (something).
Would be nice to see Ishida drop the Punisher. Williams got way too comfortable being able to diet to fight smaller guys with his bigger frame. I never bought that most feared fighter business... he had power and was busy, but was fighting the wrong fight for a while now and won on punch output. I think he needed a better trainer when he looked gassed edging out Margacheato... and still does.
The first Martinez fight, a lot of people thought he lost. He was getting bested before Cintron jumped out of the ring... and then he got blasted out by Martinez. I want to see Williams in with hungry fighters that pose a threat. I want to seem him a fight for his life, not a return back to square one, where hes outsizing and out swinging opponents... and people are running for their life.
I don't think Martinez owes him anything at this point. If he beat Martinez convincingly or stopped him in the first fight. Yeah sure, its one a piece and we need to know who's better. Martinez knocking Paul down in the first fight opened a lot of peoples eyes. The second fight did even more. Martinez going up in weight and beating a guy in Pavlik, that Williams couldn't eventually come to terms with... said even more. It all made Martinez look like a guy with desire that needed a stage... and Williams, a guy who was given a stage regardless of his desire.
I'm just suprised at how the general feel is this is just a formality in Williams reclaiming status. We're not talking a close hard fought loss....we're talking a definitive flat ou face first detonation of a fighter, kod in as dramatic a fashion as you'll see. Really off that I don't think ge needs to be on the air at first at all. Williams is not a newby but being thrust back into spotlight can do a number mentally. You don't get a chance to comeback from these often. Dude don't need to be babied but bring him back on some undercard, feed him a gloved steak of an opponent and work off the kinks. Bouncing back right at top billing not only is undeserved but more importantly imo is unwise.
Lol, it's because of the money..... you make it seem like he was ducking them because he was scared of them or something. Yeah he ducked them to fight Cintron, and Martinez...lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rantcatrat