Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo

The very first time I saw Paul “The Punisher” Williams live was in May of 2006. He was taking on Walter Matthyse at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles. I remember thinking to myself back then, “This guy should be illegal.” The long, high work rate, power to spare, tough whiskered south paw got my full attention back then and I have not changed my opinion one single bit. Since that fight back in 2006 I have had the privilege to cover 5 more of Paul’s fight and with each and every performance I learn something new about this young man and this weekend in Las Vegas was no different.

Williams came into the fight slightly favored over his latest foe Winky Wright, but when the scorecards were read there was nothing slight about his victory. Tall Paul dominated the crafty Wright over 12 rounds and came very close to pitching a complete game shut out.

Throwing over 1,000 punches once again Williams proved that no matter how slippery you are, if 1,000 bombs are coming your way plenty of them are going to land…no matter what.

Speaking with William’s Trainer George Peterson before the fight the polite coach told me, “They say Winky’s got a great defense, but he better bring a whole lot of offense if he wants to beat Paul!”

Winky brought offense, in fact he did more than I think most people expected him to do after a 2 year lay off. But with 1,000 punches coming at him from all angles and distances Wright was in for more than he had bargained for. “He’s just so dang long,” said Winky after the fight.

Props go out to Wright though who didn’t make it the borefest many thought the fight might turn into. I think Winky has got a lot of fight left in him and so does he. You can expect to see him back in the ring soon.

And the same goes for Williams, we should see him back in the ring…as soon as they can find someone willing to fight him.

I Don’t Hate Heavyweights
“I Just Seem To Feel Better
When They’re Not Round”…

Okay, I stole that line from the movie Barfly, but even the star of that flick, Mickey Rourke, has to be disgusted with the shape of the heavyweights who have been climbing into the ring these days.

When Jameel McCline layed down in round 4 and took the ten count for Chris Arreola on Satuday night the last word that came to my mind was impressive, yet I heard that term used over and over again during Saturday nights post fight press conference and I have seen it posted in stories across the internet since then.

Come on guys…were you really that impressed?

Thank goodness that we have recently hooked up with writer Dave Wicox who was there on Saturday night. He submitted a brutally honest report that among other things stated,  In the co-main event of the evening we got to play yet another one of our favorite games of “Watch Two Fat Guys Fight”.

I love the honesty but I must admit I am not as amused and watching Fat Guys fight is becoming a very tired act.

When discussing my disdain for guys who can’t muster up the will to get in shape, my peers accuse me of only liking fighters with Adonis type physiques.

That’s far from the truth.

I just want and expect fighters to come into the ring in shape.

I want fighters who tell me the are going to come in better prepared for their next fight to adhere to what they say. I don’t want to see them heavier than they were the fight before.

I don’t want to hear that you were sick and I don’t want to hear you tell me I don’t know what I am talking about, especially when you were the ones who promised to take things more seriously.

You know what really is troublesome to me is that coming from Southern California myself, I admit to being a huge Homer and I like Chris. He has all the tools to really make it big in this game. He’s got a great sense of humor and is wonderful with the media, a true quote machine. He also has the skill, when in proper shape, to destroy anyone. Look what he did to Damien Wills and look at the weight he performed at…it’s not a coincidence. The word is Wills, who was sparring with a much heavier Chris in this camp, was giving The Nightmare fits. Again…Not a coincidence.

Back in the day a heavyweight by the name of “Two Ton” Tony Galento was wreaking havoc in the heavyweight division. Galento was one of the most colorful fighters in the history of the sport. Galento was a “no holds barred” brawler, with a wicked left hook, who never let such niceties as the ring rules, or sportsmanship, interfere with his goal to knock out the other fighter. He achieved this level of fitness by eating whatever, whenever he wanted. A typical meal for Galento consisted of six chickens, a side of spaghetti, all washed down with a half gallon of red wine, or beer, or both at one sitting. When he did go to training camp, he foiled his trainers attempts to modify his diet and terrorized his sparring partners by eating their meals in addition to his.

He was reputed to train on beer, and allegedly ate 52 hot dogs on a bet before facing heavyweight Arthur DeKuh. Galento was supposedly so bloated before the fight that the waist line of his trunks had to be slit for him to fit into them. Galento claimed that he was sluggish from the effects of eating all those hot dogs, and that he could not move for three rounds. Nevertheless, Galento knocked out the 6’3″ DeKuh with one punch, a left hook, in the fourth round.

After putting together a string of 11 KO’s in a row Galento got his shot at the Heavyweight Champ Joe Louis. He had his crack at the title. When asked about his chances Galento, a quote machine himself gave the famous line, “I’ll moida da bum!”

History will tell us the tough Galento staggered Louis in round one but then went on to take an absolute pummeling going down 3 times before the fight was stopped in round 4.

The finely skilled and PROPERLY TRAINED Louis destroyed the happy go lucky brawler.

With his number 1 WBC ranking secured it appears Arreola has set the stage to take on Champion Vitali Klitschko sometime this year in The Staple Center in Los Angeles.

Know this, Vitali Klitschko is highly skilled and will be properly trained.

If Chris does not take this fight as seriously and train as hard as he did for Wills, if not harder, he will suffer the same fate as Galento did back on that fateful day in 1939.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 1:33 am and is filed under Boxing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.