Paul Williams loses out in Pacquiao-Margarito
The biggest news of the signing of a bout between top pound-for-pound fighter Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito wasn't that the two would be fighting. Simply put, not many people were interested by that fight. What the bigger news was that
Analysts were quick to complain that a bout with Margarito is a mismatch for Pacquiao, and that he would be better served taking on someone else. Cue up Williams, and a lot of questions as to why we're not seeing him in the ring with Pac Man.
Williams, with only one defeat in 40 bouts, stands as a prime contender for Pacquiao, and maybe even too much of a contender. With a reach of 82in, Williams is uncommonly tall for his weight division, compared to Pacquiao, with a span of 67'. Williams is generally fast-paced and prone to throwing a lot of punches in a fight, similar to Pacquiao, which means it would be an exciting, high intensity fight. Why then isn't it going down in the books?
For one, Paul Williams has oft been criticized as the “most avoided fighter,” and that name is quite fitting. He's shown he's a very talented fighter, but has been limited to matches with the likes of Carlos Quintana and Sergio Gabriel Martinez. Part of that is management and promotion. Paul Williams isn't affiliated with Top Rank Promotions or Golden Boy Promotions, the heavy hitting promotional companies, even though he's a top rated fighter. That's huge. Because boxing isn't so much about how good you are; it's about who will be able to represent and market how good you are or could be. Real power is in marketing capacity.
A prime example of this has become Bob Arum and his breadwinner, Manny Pacquiao. Take nothing away from Pac Man; he's shown himself to be one of the top fighters in the world today, without a doubt. At the same time, Arum has marketed this man religiously, going so far as to say that he personally thinks Pacquiao is the greatest fighter that ever lived. Fans might take offence to calling Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and others inferior to the still-young Pacquiao.
When you market a fighter at a top level and declare him your most valuable business asset, which is what Arum effectively did, it makes no sense to have him lose against 'lesser', lower-marketed fighters. Cue in Paul Williams again. The idea of Pacquiao losing to Williams is probably something Arum is willing to do without, because he is still banking on the unbelievably big payday of Mayweather – Pacquiao. And while that doesn't seem imminent now, all of these fights for Pacquiao serve one sole purpose – butter him up, and have him remain a winner.
The irony to all this is that if boxing was fair, if it was interested in the fans and in truly promoting the best fighters in the world, Pacquiao and Williams is a fight that would have already happened. After all, let's not forget that even with independent promotion, Williams has been able to notch off wins against Kermit Cintron (albeit in bizarre fasion), and perhaps most astonishingly, Antonio Margarito.
That's right. Paul Williams has already beaten Margarito, back in 2007. That's probably the single reason he deserves Pacquiao, and not Margarito, who recently lost his boxing license due to putting illegal plaster in his hand wraps.
What the bout with Margarito confirmed was that Williams is the better fighter. But if boxing was really about who is the better fighter, it wouldn't be the sport it is now, and Mayweather and Pacquiao would finally lock horns and make us forget all about Paul Williams for a moment.
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