Williams wins but fails to impress in Atlantic City

By John McMullen

ATLANTIC CITY (The Phanatic Magazine) - Once regarded as "the most avoided man in boxing," Paul Williams might want to think about avoiding Atlantic City.

Williams won a 12-round majority decision in a middleweight bout over Cuban challenger Erislandy Lara in his return to the seaside resort on Saturday but his once-vaunted reputation took another hit.

The athletic left-hander, who was trying to rebound from a stunning second round knockout to Sergio Martinez last November in Atlantic City, had his face bloodied by a consistent game plan, heavy on overhand lefts by Lara.

Most of the 2,176 in attendance at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall thought the Cuban would get the nod but Williams or perhaps his reputation prevailed. Judge Al Bennett scored the fight a draw at 114-114, while Hilton Whitaker scored it 115-114 and Don Givens had it 116-114 for Williams (40-2, 27 KOs). The Phanatic Magazine had it 115-113 for Lara.

"He was a tough customer," Williams said of Lara. "He came to fight and he motivated me. He caught me with some potshots, but I kept throwing combinations to his body and a lot of people did not see the punches and they were adding up."

Lara (15-1, 10 KOs), also a southpaw, saw things differently.

"It was a good fight; I don't know what the judges saw," the Cuban said. "The Martinez fight was a blueprint,  coming with the overhand left. That's what we practiced in the gym. I would like a rematch."

Williams, always a busy fighter, threw 1,047 punches but landed just 200 (19 percent), according to CompuBox numbers. Lara was the far more economical fighter, connecting on 224 of 530 punches (42 percent).

Williams seemed to lose something in the fifth round when a cut opened up over his left eye after an accidental head butt. Lara, who is four inches shorter than Williams, ended up with a nasty looking knot on the left side of his head after the head butt also but he pressed on, bewildering Williams with a consistent stream of straight lefts.

By the 11th round, Williams' face was taking a beating and both his mouth and nose were bleeding. Even his own corner though ne needed the knockout to gain the victory.

In other action the undefeated Rico Ramos (20-0, 11 KOs), of Los Angles, captured Akifumi Shimoda's (23-3-1, 10 KOs) WBA super bantamweight title with a stunning seventh round knockout. Ramos, who was trailing badly in the fight, landed a left hook that sent the champion to the canvas.


In a heavyweight special attraction, Chirs Arreola (33-2, 28  KOs) secured an easy 10 round unanimous decision over veteran Friday Ahunanya (24-8-3, 13 KOs), pitching a virtual shutout of 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91.


Also WBC featherweight titleholder Jhonny Gonzales (49-7, 43 KOs) retained his belt with a 4th round TKO over Tomas Villa (23-8-4, 13 KOs) . A vicious body shot proved to be the end for Villa.


Preliminaries saw Middleweight Dennis Douglin (13-1, 8 KOs) rebounded from his first loss to earn a six round unanimous decision over Philadelphia's Phillip McCants (9-3-1, 3 KOs), while Millville's Thomas  Lamanna (4-0, 3 KOs) took care of Reggie Jenkins (0-1), who was making his professional debut, by TKO at 2:14 of the opening round. Also heavyweight John Lennox (5-0, 2 KOs) scored a fourth round TKO over Donnie Crawford (1-2-1, 1 KO).