Paul Williams scores a controversial Majority Decision win over Erislandy Lara
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 10 Jul 2011
Atlantic City, New Jersey ? Paul Williams 39-2, (27 KOs) and Erislandy Lara 15-0 (10 KOs) engaged in a brutal twelve round war that awed the crowd here at the Boardwalk Hall Arena. The result though was a disappointment for the more than 2100 fans who attended tonight?s event which was broadcasted by HBO.
Lara, the former Cuban Olympian who now trains in Miami, Florida scored all night with an overhand left hand numerous times in the fight that clearly bothered and hurt the comebacking Williams. He caught Williams with the same type of punch that knocked Williams out in his last fight against Sergio Martinez in this same arena last year. These are hard punches that Williams took well and ones that did not stop his continued pressure on Lara.
The former middleweight champ from Aiken, SC forced the fight on the undefeated challenger despite being on the receiving end of Lara?s thundering punches. This was clearly enough for two of the three judges to score the fight for Williams in a decision that drew boos and disapproval from the surprised audience. The other judge saw it an even fight for both fighters.
This is Williams' return bout after suffering a career derailing knockout from 2010 Fighter of the Year, Sergio Martinez. The win did not come easy for Williams in a fight that most of the sportswriters at ringside and the crowd thought Lara won. The scores were 114 even, 115-114 and 116-114 for Williams. A clearly disappointed but deserving Lara drew the appreciation and applause from the crowd after the fight as Williams took a win that could revive his stalled career.
The fight preceding the main event set up the war that is to come up between Williams and Lara. In a knockout of the year candidate, challenger Rico Ramos 19-0 (10 KOs) of Los Angeles, CA shocked WBA Super Bantamweight champ and the Atlantic City crowd with a left hook that knocked the lights out of the Japanese champ and the Boardwalk Hall Arena.
Shimoda was in control for most of the fight winning on all judges card but he was caught with a hard left by Ramos in the 7th round sending him unconscious in the canvas. The crowd jump to its feet in awe of the knockout as the undefeated challenger snatched the belt from the unlucky Japanese. Shimoda spent a long time in the canvas after the knockout where he was attended by the medical staff and his concerned corner. He was able to regain consciousness and walked out to his dressing room after the disastrous knockout he suffered. Ramos garnered the 11th knockout of his career but this one is looking to be his most spectacular to date and one of this year?s most spectacular one punch knockouts to date.
The following are the rest of the undercard results of the bouts held tonight here in Atlantic City.
The night opened with a 6 round middleweight match between Denis Douglin 12-1, (8 KOs) of Marlboro, NJ and Phillip McCants 9-2-1 (3 KOs) of neighboring Philadelphia, PA. Douglin scored a UD win by controlling the fight from the opening round. The scores were 60-54 twice and 58-56.
Local kid Thomas Lamanna 2-2 (2 KOs) of this city needed only 2 minutes and 14 seconds to thwart the professional debut of Reggie Jenkins of Freemont, NC in a junior middleweight bout .Lamanna hit the awkward Jenkins early with a straight right and a left hook combo that dropped the rookie. Jenkins got back on his feet but is unable to finish the round as Lamanna attacked him continuously forcing referee Randy Neuman to stop the fight.
Brandon Quarles 5-0, (2 KOs) of Alexandria, VA needed a split decision to overcome Corey Preston 1-4 of Cincinnati, OH. The 4 round middleweight match had scores of 40-36, 39-37 for Quarles and one judge had it 39-37 for Preston.
In the first battle of heavyweights of the night, John Lennox 4-0, (1KO) of Carteret, NJ scored a TKO win in the 4th and final round against Donnie Crawford 1-1-1 (1 KO) of Petersburg, WV. Lennox floored Crawford in the 2nd but the game Crawford recovered and put up a spirited fight until he got forced in the ropes and was unable to fight back in the final round. Referee Randy Neumann called a halt to the fight at the2:11 mark of the round.
WBC Featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzales of 48-7, (42 KOs) who is being trained by legendary Mexican trainer Ignacio ?Nacho? Beristain defended his belt successfully with a 4th round TKO of fellow Mexican Thomas Villa 23-7-4 (14 KOs). The Mexico City champ displayed disciplined skills as he hit Villa with combinations that he was unable to contain. A body shot in the first 49 seconds of the 4th dropped the Chihuahua, MX fighter of which he was unable to recover. He retreated to his corner spitting blood which drew the immediate attention of his corner and the ring physician. Gonzales improved his record to 49 wins of which 43 came from knockouts like the one he delivered tonight.
Heavyweight Chris Arreola of Riverside, CA 32-2, (28 KOs) continued his winning ways with a UD win over Friday Ahunanya 24-7-3 (13 KOs) of Las Vegas, NV. It was an unimpressive win though for the former challenger to WBC champ Vitali Klitschko who has extended his winning streak to five following recent losses to Klitschko and Thomasz Adamek. He is aiming at another chance to fight for the heavyweight belt this time against the other Klitschko in Vladimir who holds the unified belts of the WBO, WBA, IBO and the IBF. Vladimir is fresh from his dismantling of David Haye in Germany last week to capture the WBA heavyweight belt.
Arreola forced the fight on a strong chinned Ahunanya who withstood the body and head combinations that Arreola dished out. Arreola also had a taste of the Las Vegas boxer?s punches particularly in the 4th round where he got cornered and caught in the head and body by Ahunanya. The Riverside, CA heavyweight dominated the rest of the fight with good jabbing and movement en route to his 33rd win. Arreola expressed disappointment on his performance tonight when he talked to reporters at ringside right after the fight. The scores were 99-91 twice and a shutout card of 100-90 on the judges? scorecards.
The last fight of the night came after the main event. It was a light heavyweight bout between Cornelius White 16-1, (15 KOs) of Houston, TX and Dhafir Smith 24-20 (4 KOs) of Upper Darby, PA. The decision was the same as the main event with White scoring majority decision win over Smith. Two judges score it 59-55 and 59-56 for White while a single judge had it for Smith with a 59-55 score.
Top photo: Boxer Erislandy Lara (L) from Miami, Florida, connects to the head of Paul Williams from Aiken, South Carolina, during the eleventh round of their light middleweight bout in Atlantic City, New Jersey, July 9, 2011. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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