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HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

November 29, 2008

Citizens Bank Arena-Ontario, California

Interim-WBO Junior Middleweight (154 pounds) 12-Round Championship match:

Paul Williams (35-1, 26 KO's, 153.5 pounds) vs. Verno Phillips (42-10-1, 1 NC, 21 KO's, 154 pounds)

This title is being created in this match. The full WBO Champion at 154 pounds is Sergiy Dzinziruk.

Williams is a giant that is hoping to compete simultaneously and win titles in every weight class from 147 pounds to 168 pounds. He is listed at 6' 1.5" tall, but is probably closer to 6' 3" tall. Williams has an 82" wingspan, which is longer then almost every heavyweight champion in the history of boxing. It makes him a match-up nightmare for potential opponents. Williams was forced to vacate his 147-pound title to take this match. He wanted to defend that belt on this show, however none of the top boxers in the division would face him. Williams is arguably the best 147-pounder in the world. Antonio Margarito is ranked number 1 in the division by The Ring, but Williams holds an unavenged victory over the boxer from Tijuana, Mexico. That gives Williams a rightful claim to being the true king of the 147-pound division. Margarito was offered the guaranteed largest purse of his career to face Williams, but wanted no part of the tall southpaw.

Therefore, Williams decided to go after a belt at 154 pounds, because no top boxer would face him at 147 pounds. Williams is not expected to hold this belt very long. The top match-ups for him are at 147 pounds and Williams has been pushing for a match with the top ranked 160-pounder in the world, Kelly Pavlik. In that match, Williams would be the substantially larger boxer. Williams would also be the larger boxer in a match for Joe Calzaghe's championship at 175 pounds. In fact, Williams would have a reach advantage on both of the 6' 7" tall Klitschko brothers, who are ruling the heavyweight division by using their long arms to keep opponents out of punching range with their jab.

Williams' last match was a technical knockout victory at 1:47 of round 1 over Andy Kolle on September 25, 2008 at the Soboba Casino. Williams who has historically shown little punching power dropped Kolle with a hard right-left combo and the Minnesotan was unable to beat the referee's count. That made 2 straight round 1 knockouts for Williams. Prior to that, Williams' last round 1 knockout came against Javier Valadez on September 23, 2004 at the San Jose Arena (HP Pavilion) in San Jose, California. Valadez was coming in having only won 2 of his last 12 matches with 7 losses via knockout. Williams had historically been a boxer who set CompuBox records with his work rate and scored knockouts through an accumulation of punches. If this giant has truly developed punching power he may be the scariest boxer in the business. The full recap of Williams last match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/11/30/recap-of-paul-williams-vs-andy-kolle.html

Williams is The Ring's number 2 contender to their vacant championship at 147 pounds. The Ring had ranked Williams as the number 10 boxer in the world, pound-for-pound, the last few weeks after Cristian Mijares dropped out of the rankings when he was knocked out by Vic Darchinyan. However, this week Williams was replaced at that spot by Ricky Hatton, who re-entered the rankings at number 10 following his knockout victory over Paulie Malignaggi last weekend.

Phillips is an established veteran boxer that has faced many of the top 154-pound boxers in his career. He has at 3 different times held a belt in he 154-pound division, dating back to October 30, 1993 when he defeated Lupe Aquino by technical knockout at 56 seconds of round 7 at America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Denver, Colorado resident had to vacate his freshly won title at 154 pounds to take this higher paying match, where he is supposed to play the part of stepping stone for Williams. In his last match, Phillips took the IBF Championship at 154 pounds from Cory Spinks in a controversial 12-round split decision on March 27, 2008 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Phillips is The Ring's number 2 contender to their vacant championship at 154 pounds.

At 27-years-old, Williams is 12 years younger then Phillips who is turning 39-years-old today. Williams has the height reportedly standing 6' 1.5" tall, while Phillips stands 5' 7" tall. The Augusta, Georgia resident has the reach advantage with a 25.5" arm length, compared to the 22" arm length of Phillips. Neither boxers unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, the gargantuan Williams should be the heavier boxer in the ring. Phillips will employ the orthodox stance and Williams will box out of the southpaw stance. Williams is the heavy betting favorite going into this match, and the tale of the tape shows why.

Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California and the other is from Nevada. The referee is Jon Schorle.

When they take their stances to start the match, the top of Phillips' head only comes up to Williams shoulder. There is an accidental clash of heads with a little over 1 minute to go in round 1 and someone is bleeding. The blood is coming from around Williams' right eye. It is a bad cut over the corner of the eye and could be a problem for the boxer in the match. Phillips landed the cleaner punches to take round 1, 10-9. A close up shot of Williams in the corner shows that the cut over his eye is wide and the blood is dripping into his eye. It is unlikely his corner will be able to get the cut to stop bleeding during this match. That means Williams is going to have impaired vision for the rest of the match. Lederman scores round 1 for the more aggressive Williams, 10-9. Williams wins a close round 2, 10-9. Lederman scores round 2 for Williams, 10-9. Williams is battering Phillips in round 3 with continual punches to the body. However, Williams is constantly stopping to wipe the blood away from his eye, because that cut is getting worse. The referee has taken several close looks at the cut this round and with 31 seconds to go in round 3 calls timeout for the doctor to examine the cut. This does not look good for Williams. The doctor says it is fine. The match does not go to the scorecards when it has it to be stopped due to a cut caused by an accidental foul until after 4 rounds. Williams may not be able to hold out that long. The southpaw easily wins round 3, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 3 rounds. 29-28. Williams takes round 3 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9, and leads on his scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27.

With 22 seconds to go in round 4, Phillips throws a wild right hook that misses and sends himself spinning to the mat. The referee rules it an obvious slip and the action is resumed with 18 seconds to go in the round. Williams wins round 4 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The match has now made it enough rounds where it would go to the scorecards if it had to be stopped on the cut. Williams wins round 5, 10-9. The southpaw is continuing to show his new-found punching power in this match. Williams takes round 5 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. The southpaw wins round 6 in dominating fashion, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Williams leads on my scorecard, 59-55. Lederman scores round 6 for Williams, 10-9, and has the Augusta resident ahead on his scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54.

With 2:22 to go in round 7, Williams falls awkwardly to the mat. It appears like his left foot lost traction causing the boxer to go down. Phillips who dove in at Williams when he saw the boxer's leg give, tripped over the fallen Williams and went sprawling on the mat. Both falls are correctly ruled slips. The action resumes with 2:14 to go in the round. Phillips is fine following his trip to the mat. Williams is not limping when he gets up, despite the way his leg went out from under him. The southpaw takes round 7 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Phillips looks exhausted at this point from the relentless body punching of Williams. It is getting to the point that Phillips corner may want to think about stopping the match. Williams wins round 8, 10-9. The cut above Williams' right eye has not stopped bleeding since round 1. Phillips hair is now dyed red from the blood dripping down from the cut onto the top of the shorter boxer's head. However, Williams has not let the cut effect him since round 3. The doctor has stopped this match in the corner due to an accumulation of punches. It was a good stoppage. It is the first knockout loss for Phillips, since his fifth pro match on July 30, 1988. The HBO commentators say this is during the George H. W. Bush presidency. That is incorrect. That stoppage occurred in the waning days of the Reagan administration. Williams had just finished first grade and had yet to start second grade.

The official outcome from Michael Buffer is that: at 3:00 of round 8 the referee has called a stop to this match on the advice of the doctor making the winner by technical knockout and new interim-WBO Junior Middleweight Champion of the World, Paul "The Punisher" Williams. The win moves Williams to 36-1 with now 27 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers show Williams domination. Williams landed 227 of the 682 total punches he threw, for a 33% total connect percentage. The new champion landed 210 of the 489 power punches he threw for a very good 43% power connect percentage. Phillips landed 91 of the 396 total punches he threw, for a 23% total connect percentage. The Denver resident landed 88 off the 366 power punches he threw, for a 24% power connect percentage.

Williams said in his post match interview that he did not want to call out anyone in particular, because he has been calling out a lot of boxers for years. When asked if he could be at 147 pounds for a match with Margarito. Williams smiled and said he would have no problem making 147 pounds if Margarito signed the contract. That brought cheers from the audience.

The new champion is a terrifying match up problem for any potential opponent. Williams continues to improve with every match. In the match with Quintana, Williams added the element of power punching to his repertoire. Now he has added the ability to throw vicious body shots to his game. There are no obvious next opponents for Williams, because all of the big names that it would make sense for Williams to face want no part of him. It is doubtful Williams would go to Germany to unify his title with the full WBO title held by Dzinziruk. If that match were to happen in the United States there is a good chance it would be Williams next match. Williams appears to be good and too scary for his own financial good.

Next January would mark Phillips 22nd year as professional boxer. That may be too long in the ring. Phillips is still competitive at a high level. However, he was not competitive with Williams. After this it is unlikely he will have any drawing power. Rather then hang on too long and join a long list of boxers that did not know when to step away, it may be time for Phillips to call it a career. He can main event ESPN cards for several more years, but his career deserves a better ending then that of a boxer that is holding on for 1 more title shot.

The main event was a completely one-sided match that became repetitive with Williams pinning Phillips against the ropes and then throwing combinations that were rarely answered. The main event involved a very good boxer getting better. However, it was not a great match to watch on its own. Making it a marginal watch.