Williams vs. Martinez Fight of the Year

By Ray Flores

This past Saturday at Boardwalk Hall’s Ballroom in Atlantic City New Jersey, saw current WBC Jr. Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and the most avoided fighter in boxing Paul Williams go head to head in an instant classic. For 12 rounds, Williams and Martinez went toe to toe pushing each other to the limit. Although the fight took place in the middleweight division of 160 pounds, these were the two best junior middleweights waging war against one another. What we saw were two sensational fighters with terrific crowd pleasing styles engaging in what HBO boxing analyst Max Kellerman called “a better more skilled version of Gatti/Ward. “

              If you like drama and moments of suspense this was certainly the fight for you. Round one can be considered one of the most back and forth rounds of 2009 in boxing. The taller and longer Williams put Martinez on the canvas early in round 1 with a grazing left hand. It almost seemed as if Williams was going to be on his way to the route his team predicted. This was not to be the case as the Argentine native responded by pressing forward and towards the end of the round stunning Williams with a vicious right hook that sent Williams down into the ropes. This was only a sign of things to come during the fight.

                The next few rounds saw Martinez using his brilliant counterpunching abilities to tattoo Williams with right hook after right hook.  Despite the pinpoint accuracy of Martinez, Williams surged forward throwing shots of his own.  Paul Williams took some shots early in the fight that would have put down most fighters. The 28 year old would dig deep and press the action as has been customary for him throughout his career.

                The middle rounds were fought at a blistering pace with Williams the aggressor scoring with straight left hands while peppering Martinez from all angles. Early in the fight it seemed as if this was going to be sort of a trap fight for Williams as he was unable to figure out the strong counterpunching ability of Martinez. Williams showed tremendous growth by adjusting to and sitting down on his punches more while not throwing the high volume he is used to throwing. He did a fantastic job of showing his ring generalship by using the ring while at the same time showing a willingness to engage during parts of rounds 4-8 with Martinez.

 Make no mistake Williams still threw over 70 punches per round, but he’s accustomed to throwing over 100. Paul knew with such a sharp and precise counterpuncher in front of him, he had to be more selective on what punches he threw. On a side note, fight fans long for the day that some of today’s prize fighters would be willing to throw 70 punches. This would be considered ultra active for many, but for the most avoided man in all of boxing it was considered a drop off.

The championship rounds were something special to watch. Williams continued moving forward being the aggressor in the fight, but in rounds nine and ten, the 34 year old Martinez did a great job of adjusting as he began blasting Paul Williams with straight left hands down the pipe. It certainly got the attention of Williams as his head was rocked back on several occasions especially in round ten.

The eleventh round of this fight should be a round of the year candidate. The two came out with bad intentions throwing straight left hands, right hooks, and digging to the body. It was easily apparent that both men knew the fight was on the table. The final minute of the eleventh round was memorable Martinez and Williams stood in the center of the ring throwing everything they could at one another often absorbing brutal blows. It’s almost inconceivable at how both men were able to remain standing.

            The final round saw Williams getting back to work as he did in the middle rounds moving forward throwing an array of punches looking like the fresher fighter. Martinez clearly exhausted at this point of the fight clutched with Williams and fell to the canvas in front of Williams. As has been the trademark for this fight, Martinez and Williams again dug deep and threw what they had towards the weaning moment of the fight. It was an instant classic.

Final punch stat numbers saw Williams landing 300 of 979 total punches for an accuracy rating of 31%. Martinez meanwhile landed 254 of 638 total punches for an accuracy rating of 40%. Total power punches saw Williams throwing more landing 206 of 631 total thrown for a rating of 33%. Martinez was more accurate in the power punch department landing 183 of 446 for a connect rate of 41%.

     The decision came and Judges Lynne Carter scored it (115-113 for Williams), Julie Lederman scored it (114-114 a draw) and Pierre Benoist scored it (119-110 for Williams) making Paul Williams the winner by majority decision. Williams improves to 38-1 (27KOs) while Martinez drops to 44-2-2 (24Kos). Despite the loss the fight was fought at middleweight so Martinez’ WBC Jr. Middleweight title was not up for grabs.

              The scorecards have been a topic of conversation as some media observers scored the fight in favor of Martinez. I had it 115-113 for Williams. The fight was no doubt sensational, but as has been the case over the past year in boxing and mma, we saw a case of bad judging. Max Kellerman brought this to light on the HBO Boxing telecast citing his displeasure with the lack of good judging over the past year in boxing with Ali Funeka-Joan Guzman, and Paulie Malinaggi-Juan Diaz coming to mind.

The decision could have gone either way, but the problem I have as most who watched the fight do is the scorecard of Pierre Benoist. He had the fight scored 119-110 in favor of Williams which means he only gave one round to Martinez. Anyone who was watching the fight could clearly see there is no way Martinez won just one round. Even if you were watching the fight casually, it was evident Martinez won his fare share of rounds. This is just another indication of how mma and boxing judges need to find a way to improve their performance with taking part in seminars or more training courses, because scorecards like Pierre Benoist are just not acceptable.

Awarding the fight to Williams by scores of 115-113 is disputed but can be seen as tangible. You can easily make the argument Williams was more of the aggressor and took control of the fight in the middle rounds. He did land some good shots and was busier. To say Martinez won only one round is a total travesty.

Let’s not allow one bad scorecard to get in the way of what was otherwise a fantastic fight. They came in as the two best Jr. Middleweights in the world and their performance lived up to their world ranking. There is a saying in fighting sports in general that styles make fights. Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez are almost made for each other. Here you have a tall long fighter in Williams who is constantly moving forward throwing an array of punches every round rarely taking a step backward battling a sharp pinpoint accurate counterpuncher who has a good amount of power in his hands with Martinez. This fight had fireworks written all over it. The fight certainly surpassed expectations. There are certain duos in boxing that are almost destined and made for each other Ali-Frazier, Barrera-Morales, Vazquez-Marquez and Gatti-Ward all come to mind as fighters who got together and fought at the right time. These trilogies provided fight fans with so many thrills that not even a Hollywood blockbuster could provide.

Paul Williams has been looking for a dancing partner to push his skills to the limit who was at the top of the food chain. No longer does the “most avoided man in boxing” have to look any further as Sergio Martinez came in his way at the right time. What is remarkable about this fight is it was made with a little over a month’s notice as Williams was slated to take on Kelly Pavlik. Injuries and delays from the Pavlik camp forced Williams and company to move forward and along came Sergio Martinez. This Williams-Martinez instant classic took place with both fighters training for each other for only a month time span. Can you imagine what is going to happen if these guys get two to three months to prepare for one another?

 Martinez and Williams II will certainly be a must see and extremely worthy of HBO PPV billing. I think it’s safe to say fight fans got an early Christmas present as this one delivered joy to boxing fans around the world.  

 

By Ray Flores