Paul Williams: Sergio Martinez 'Won't Want None of This'

ATLANTIC CITY --Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez share a common opponent in former world champion, Antonio Margarito.

And while Margarito knocked out Martinez in their welterweight (147 pounds) matchup in February of 2000, the hard-hitting, Tijuana, Mexico, resident was later dethroned by Williams as the 147-pound, WBO titlist in a unanimous decision.

"At that time, Margarito was the hottest guy out there. But since I had been his sparring partner at one time, I knew that I could beat him, so I was always calling him out," said Williams, recalling of a win he accomplished on July 14 of 2007 -- thirteen days prior to his 26th birthday. "I really wanted to make a statement, because at the time, back then, nobody wanted to fight Antonio Margarito."


Since then, there have been few fighters willing to take on the 28-year-old Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts, a rangy, 6-foot-2, southpaw with two-fisted power and a seemingly, endless energy reserve that allows him to unleash an unheard of number of punches.

But on Saturday night, in the sold out Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall, Martinez (44-1-2) will step into the ring against Williams in a 12-round, middleweight (160 pounds) non-title matchup.

A southpaw who has gone 28-0-1, with 18 stoppages since losing to Margarito, Martinez has vowed to earn his 25th career KO against Williams.

"I'll break him down, and don't be surprised. I will be the one who will knock him out. I'm going to hit him with a shot and I will knock him out," Martinez told FanHouse during an interview at Caesar's on Thursday with Williams sitting only a few feet away.

"It's going to happen. And when it does, I don't want the public or the press to say that Paul Williams had an off-night," Martinez said of Williams, a two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion.

"Paul Williams is prepared, I'm prepared, and I'm going to do my best to beat this guy impressively," said Martinez, who weighed in at 159 for the fight -- two pounds more than Williams. "And like I said before, when the time comes, I will knock out Paul Williams."

Layoffs of eight, and, 10 months for Williams and Martinez, who, respectively, are coming off of April's unanimous decision over former junior middleweight (154) world champion, Winky Wright, and February's draw with former welterweight (147) world titlist, Kermit Cintron.

Martinez was announced as the opponent early last month, when Williams' scheduled clash with WBO and WBC middleweight king, Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), was canceled due to a staph infection on the knuckle of Pavlik's left forefinger.

Pavlik has since signed to defend his crown against Miguel Espino (20-2-1, nine) on Dec. 19.

Williams' manager and trainer, George Peterson, said he's glad Martinez is confident, "because that will only get him knocked out" sooner.

"It's good that Martinez believes that he can win the fight, and that he believes he can knock me out and all of that. But I believe that I'm going to win the fight and knock him out," said Williams on Thursday, while wearing a dark shades and a white, waist-length mink jacket. "If that's how he pumps himself up then that's how he pumps himself up."

Williams threw 1,086 punches against Wright -- an average of 91 punches per round that far exceeds the CompuBox middleweight average of 51 per round. "There's always a lot of talking from my opponents. Then, when you get in there with me, they realize that it's not as easy as it looks," said Williams. "I set a total punch pace that is so high, that...trust me -- when it's all over, Martinez won't want none of this."

Although Williams suffered his lone defeat against southpaw, Carlos Quintana, in February, 2008, he regained his WBO championship, four months later, by stopping Quintana with 15 seconds left in the first round.

Quintana (26-2, 20 KOs), who will meet Jesse Feliciano (15-7-3, nine) on Saturday night's undercard, served as Williams' sparring partner in preparation for Martinez at Barcroft Recreation Center in Arlington, Va.

"I don't think that it's difficult fighting a left-hander. I look at all fighters the same," said Williams. "It doesn't matter if he's a left-hander or a right-hander. I just deal with the fighter that's in front of me."


Nicknamed, "The Punisher," Williams grew up playing street basketbll and football in Augusta, Ga., and first donned a pair of boxing gloves at the age of 8.

"I started as an amateur, did that for a couple of years. Then, after a couple of more years, my amateur coach died, so I kind of stopped doing it for a while," said Williams.

"Then, when I was about 16, my mom showed me a newspaper clipping of two guys competing in the Golden Gloves. And I was like, 'That could be me,'" said Williams. "When I turned 17, I found out about Mr. Peterson's gym, and I knew was training professionals. So I got with him, and we started rocking and rolling."

In July of 2000, Williams earned a unanimous, four-round decision over of Jeremy Mickelson in his first, professional bout -- six days before his 18th birthday.

"But Mr. Peterson, wasn't about just boxing. He was teaching me how to do plumbing, how to fix drywall, stuff like that. It was like he was teaching a trade, so that I could do things for myself and have something to fall back on after boxing," said Williams.

"Right after I fought Margarito, I started buying apartment buildings, started buying houses and commercial properties," said Williams. "Mr. Peterson has taught me what to do with my money. He's always telling me, 'You don't need no liabilities, you need assets.' So that's what we're doing."

Williams' toughness and resolve are unquestionable -- particularly in light of a little-known fact concerning his bout with Margarito.

"During sparring before the fight with Margarito, I had injure my ribs," said Williams, who, at the time, was 32-0 with 24 knockouts. "So I went into it with, like, a bruised rib."

Williams, nevertheless, persevered.

"When I was fighting him, Margarito kept going to my ribs the whole night. I think that he knew that it was hurting me and stuff. It's one of those situations where I just couldn't show any signs that he was getting to me," said Williams.

"If you show guys that you're hurting, and that it's getting to you, they'll keep going, and it will pump them up," said Williams. "So I just dug in and realized that I couldn't show him any of those signs."

Prior to January's 11th-round, knockout loss to Shane Mosley, Margarito's hand wraps were to discovered to have contained a hard, plaster-like substance which is illegal in the sport.

Margarito was suspended from boxing for a year.

"My fight was before all of the stuff about his hand wraps, but people always ask me do I think that he had stuff in his hand wraps against me," said Williams. "I say that I can't say whether he did, and I can't say that he didn't. But I was determined, so it really doesn't matter."