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Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:30 am EST

HBO can't find fights for 'The Punisher'

By Steve Cofield

The pitter-pat is gone. Paul Williams was criticized for too often being a points fighter. It's not the case anymore. He's pounded out three stoppages over Carlos Quintana, Andy Kolle and Verno Phillips. Big deal on the last two wins, right? Wrong. Williams (36-1, 27 KO) proved a point by fighting at middleweight and then beat Phillips at junior middleweight on Saturday night on HBO. He can fight anywhere from 147-to-160 pounds and he puts on a damn good show. Why can't he find a big fight? Why is Antonio Margarito, a man he beat in July of 2007, making $2 million in his next fight while Williams only banked $500k for his win over the weekend?

The answer is HBO, boxing and the sanctioning bodies. While we're fed a steady diet of Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya and Wladimir Klitschko, you've got a 27-year-old who some are comparing to Marvin Hagler fighting from away from the casual fan's radar:

"He's going through what Marvin Hagler went through in the 1980s," said Williams' promoter Dan Goossen. "Hagler was one of the most feared men in boxing. Nobody wanted to fight him. Paul is the same way - lefthanded, a ferocious puncher in the ring. Right now he's paralleling Marvin Hagler when it comes to that tag of 'most feared man in boxing.'"

Williams recently took his WBO welterweight belt and tossed it in the trash can when he wouldn't fight a nobody named Michael Jennings. Longtime boxing writer Tim Smith of the N.Y. Daily News has reached his limits:

The same way HBO picked up its checkbook to make Margarito-Shane Mosley happen, it can holster it when promoters and managers offer them garbage. In these tough economic times, it won't take long for that thought to sink in. Until that happens, the label of "the most feared man in boxing" will continue to be passed along from boxer to boxer until the sport has died from lack of interest.

Williams shouldn't have to fight anyone outside this group in 2009: Andre Berto, Felix Sturm, Sergio Martinez, Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto, Sergio Martinez, Arthur Abraham, Kelly Pavlik, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito.

Photo via The Daily Bulletin

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5 Comments

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  1. K NEL
    1. Posted by K NEL Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:55 pm EDT

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    It's a shame that nobody wants to step up and fight Paul. But soon enough they will be forced to fight him as they will not be able to find a bigger fight or they wont accept less money to fight a nobody. As long as Paul keeps winning somebody will have to step up and fight him.
  2. Mangler
    2. Posted by Mangler Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:12 pm EDT

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    K NEL Look at the the time Cofield posted this blog, Monday after some else probably wrote it first. Far to often Cofield ignores boxing altogether or misses the big fights. If you don't remind him he won't put a meaningful blog out. When Cotto was about to fight Margarito he was blogging about Mike Tyson's house. As for Williams, he is tough but beatable, he can be hit with a right hook . I think Margarito will fight him again but is letting the rematch build. He will make more money fighting Cotto again. Also , Cotto and Margarito are promoted by Arum, he not going to risk thier rematch by letting Margarito fight Williams first. Mangler Out
  3. Cos
    3. Posted by Cos Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:30 pm EDT

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    You said Sergio Martinez twice because the spaniard is twice as important? :))
  4. K NEL
    4. Posted by K NEL Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:55 pm EDT

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    Ok my bad Mangler you're right...but I doubt Arum is letting the rematch build. Arum doesn't want any fight dealing with Paul Williams. Check out the blog about it last week...or Im sure you probably did. It's going to take more then a right hook to beat Williams. Not saying that he's not beatable but it's going to take a very skilled fighter to beat him. Im sure in a rematch with Margarito Williams will display the skills he's gained since that fight. Margarito is the same fighter. Hell Cotto was even beating Margarito on the cards until he ran out of gas which you just can't do against a fighter like Margarito or he'll walk you down and destroy you
  5. .
    5. Posted by . Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:44 pm EDT

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    Arum has too much to lose if he lets Margarito or Cotto fight Williams cuz they'll probably lose.
    If boxing really wants to compete with MMA, they'd promote this kid. Not wait until 2010 or later until he even gets a chance to fight a big name.
    Instead we're constantly fed doses of a clearly washed up Roy Jones & Oscar De La Hoya. Boxing really needs to start promoting its CURRENT stars & stop letting these "champions" duck everyone or dictatate who they'll fight.
    If I see De La Hoya in another big fight after that pathetic display, I'm literally gonna puke.

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