I don’t about youse out there, but I am seriously impressed. I’m not surprised, though, because I tell you people, I watched what Paul Williams did to Verno Phillips last November and I saw it coming. Granted, Verno is no Winky Wright, but he’s smarter, better and certainly tougher than a lot of people give him credit for, and what’s more, he had PWill cut like a muhfuh. And rather than panic, Williams responded to that situation by being patient, thoughtful and relentless at the same time, dishing out a world of hurt and stopping Verno for the first time in his long career.
I saw that, and I thought to myself, here is a guy who is beginning to know how to handle himself in there, and you combine that with all of his other superfreaky God-given gifts and it adds up to one very bad motherfucker in the making.
And so it is. I wrote in my preview piece about the ways that I thought this was a bad make for Williams, how it was too much risk for very little reward. After the fact, I still think it was a bad make for him, but in a way that I admit that I did not foresee. Because let’s face it – you thought Paul Williams was the Mayor of Nowheresville before last night? Who the FUCK wants to fight a man who just completely busted up, broke down and humiliated Winky Fucking Wright? Not me, man, not me.
Manny Steward did seem to be right on it more than the rest of us, and I give him credit for that. I was surprised how adamant he was in the pre-fight analysis in saying that this was the absolutely wrong fight for Winky, but once it got under way, I saw it. And honestly, I imagined it beforehand as well, and it’s why I thought Williams would get the UD. I just never imagined that it would be so lopsided, a fact that has to be at least partially ascribed to Winky’s ring-rust.
The motivations, from the Winky side of the equation, are clear. He’s getting paid, reportedly two mill, by HBO. Over at MaxBoxing, Steve Kim reports that the reason that the fight is in Vegas despite absolutely zero casino interest is that Winky insisted. And the reason for that is well-known – unlike the ring, when it comes to the craps table, Winky is much more offense than defense.
HBO owed Winky a fight, and Paul Williams is most definitely somebody (as opposed to the nobodies Winky has been not fighting for about two years now), and so they opened up their purse for what amounts to a halfway decent main event. It’s in Vegas, where it decidedly should NOT be, because Winky has them by the balls in this one, but otherwise, from both the perspectives of Winky and HBO this thing makes perfect sense.
It’s the PWill perspective I don’t exactly get. Or I sort of get it. Obviously, PWill can’t get arrested in Boxing Town. He’s a talented, dedicated freak of nature southpaw and he doesn’t draw the big bucks (yet), all of which has him a good fifty paces down the dank, dark backstreet known as Winky Wright Lane. It’s no joke of a dilemma that this kid is facing here. Careers have been consumed by such situations. Even Winky doesn’t properly serve as an example, because while Winky didn’t appeal to people as an opponent, he didn’t scare them either. People didn’t want to fight Wink because they thought they’d look bad and possibly lose, but eventually enough chances were taken on him as a B-side for him to carve out a career and a name for himself.
Hard to imagine who the stone-cold playa is going to be who’s going to take a chance on Paul Williams as a B-side. One such playa was Tony Margs, and we know how that turned out. Not that Margarito was a complete A-lister at the time, but he made the PWill gamble in the summer of ’07 and bungled away a potential year of his career on the big-time. Is Pacquiao, or Mosley, or Mayweather, or Cotto, or Pavlik… is anyone on the A-list right now likely to make the same mistake when there are so many other options available?
No Masians, wanted to share the Paul Williams videos we made for Everlast during their recent photo shoot at Gleason’s. In the main event, we have P-Will threatening to “retire” Winky, challenging Manny Pac, and sounding pessimistic about Cotto or Shane ever picking up his gauntlet.
Once again, we are gonna run a contest for Saturday night, and Large is gonna bless us with a full prognostification. Outcome predictions posted here will be eligible, and there will also be a prize for the best counter to Large’s analysis on Friday. Closest to the the winner and the round or the judges scorecards for a decision wins shirt of your choice. Hit it on the button and get five shirts of your choice or a shirt and a hoodie. Must post before the fight starts to win. Good luck good sirs.
Masians – to borrow a line from ole Jim Anchower, it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya.
Taking my customary late winter’s nap through the dark period of March Wackness, I didn’t think I”d make it back on the stick here at the Mas until PWill/Winky, a curious dish of oft-ducked southpaws served up on HBO this weekend with a side order of 24/7 and a Thrilla in Manila doc appetizer.
But this past Saturday’s Tim Bradley/Kendall Holt scrap brings me back into the fray a few days early. It was a great fight, I thought it was scored perfectly and each man comported himself with fire, guts and dignity in victory and defeat. All told, one of those rare evenings where nothing seedy happens and you come out proud to be such a devoted follower of the hardest game.
If you didn’t see the scrap, I definitely recommend checking it out, if only to witness the first-round knockdown that Holt laid on Bradley. I include this ghetto-ass YouTube vid below just to wet your whistle – the smacketh gets layeth downeth at around 2:06:
