Williams v. Martinez: sleeper fight of the year

I tuned in to the HBO 12/6/09 matchup between Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez not knowing what to expect, but figuring this was another showcase for Williams. As I heard the HBO crew announce that these two fighters were the best 154 pounders on the planet fighting a non-title bout at 16o lbs., I wondered how on earth I'd never even heard of Martinez, whom Jim Lampley announced is the "fastest fighter in the world at 154 pounds" (in Lampley's opinion). I had my doubts. Then the fight began.

As I watched the first round, figuring I'd see Williams batter Martinez, I got what I expected...at first. Martinez looked ineffective, backpedaling and dancing away and forced by Williams to fight at an uncomfortable pace. When Martinez was dropped halfway through the first, it was exactly as I'd expected. Then a funny thing happened...Martinez shook it off and, taking advantage of Williams' wild and apparently misguided effort to press his advantage, floored Williams in return near the rounds end. It was on.

Because Williams is such an action fighter...as long as his opponent is capable of trading with him... he promises an action fight. The catch is that he's faced few fighters capable of maintaining his literal throw a punch every two seconds on average plus pace. Even those who have managed to do it wilt under the constant pressure, Williams' reach advantage and his willingness to take heavy leather in order to give. This was just such an action fight, mostly because Martinez never fully wilted.

A clearly fast handed and skilled counterpuncher, Martinez spent almost the entire fight backing up. No surprise there. Williams naturally comes forward the entire fight, punching constantly. It must take a special fighter to stand in there for 36 minutes, as Martinez did. Indeed, he probably did follow the template set by the only fighter to take a decision win (or any win for that matter) away from a Williams fight: Carlos Quintana. Quintana was preternaturally sharp in his first fight with Williams, using pinpoint counterpunching to bloody Willliams for a full twelve rounds and giving Williams a boxing lesson in the process. It was a lesson that Quintana could not manage to re-teach in the rematch, suffering a quick KO to Williams...but he'd showed how to beat Williams (or at least showed how to fare well): punish Williams for his punchrate style consistently enough that you win rounds and be in good enough shape that you don't wear down. Quintana had to fight the fight of his life to do it, then couldn't duplicate that feat. Martinez was nearly up to the task.

I didn't score the fight, but I probably should have. I didn't expect the fight to be as close or as good as it was, frankly. I could go back and score it again and it's a good enough fight to warrant that, but I haven't yet done it. I know this: every round was competitive and I only saw one round, I recall it was the 8th, where the fighters seemed to take the first half off. Otherwise, nearly every moment of every round was a punch-filled slugfest. As Max Kellerman opined, it was like Gatti/Ward, but contested at a higher level of skill. The analogy is imperfect, but apt. These guys were both there to win and they threw a lot of bad intention punches and each absorbed a lot of punishment. The momentum actually didn't seem to shift as much as some super action fights do...and that is why I leaned toward Williams. He drove the action, following Martinez throughout the fight and forcing Martinez to engage, but almost only ever in response.

And engage Martinez did. As is typical for Williams, he was throwing about 90-100 punches a round, but he seemed less accurate than I've seen him before. I suspect that he took Martinez lightly. The HBO team intoned that Williams' trainer had predicted a quick KO. Credit however should go to Martinez because as much as it's possible Williams wasn't razor sharp, Martinez may have been making him miss. Martinez' hands were faster and while giving away a full six inches in height and probably a comparable amount in reach, he landed consistently all night. He keeps his hands down at his sides between flurries, literally dropping them at his sides. It's amazing he was able to maintain that stylistic flaw against the ever-pursuing Williams, but he did. He changed tactics successfully at least once, adding a straight lefthanded body attack about halfway through the fight, temporarily causing a ripple in Williams' constant aggression. He also landed cleanly at least as frequently, if not more frequently, than did Williams. Then how did he lose?

Well, since I didn't score it I'd have to defer to the actual judging and Harold Lederman's card (which seemed fair and had the fight even at 95-95 going into the two final "championship rounds"of the 12 round fight). I'm tempted to throw out the 119-110 score by the ringside Judge who, along with a 115-113 score for Williams threw the fight to him. Indeed, Julie Lederman (yes, Harold's daughter) scored it even at 114-114. The one lopsided score seems unrealistic, even if you scored most of the close rounds for Williams. Martinez was consistently more effective in enough rounds to take enough rounds to make it close. Jim Lampley bluntly called that Judge "blind." The Martinez camp literally screamed "travesty" from behind their fighter when asked about it post-fight by Kellerman. I suspect I'd have given the final two close rounds to Williams, especially the closing round. Martinez was obviously wearing out and though he kept up his counterattack even then, it was clearly borne more of a fighting spirit than conditioning. He was pushing past his limits, which while admirable, highlited the fact that Williams had walked through the best he could give, kept coming with a higher punchrate, and still looked ready to go into no longer extant rounds 13 to 15.

Bottom line, Williams' constant aggression again carried the day for him. Martinez was definitely effective, but since he could do little more than backpedal all night long, firing from his back foot while the iron-chinned (mostly...once he realized he was in a fight, anyway) Williams advanced. The barrage made Martinez look like he was the one who had bitten off more than he could chew, rather than the other way around. Kellerman claimed in the post-fight interview that he'd scored it for Martinez. While that score was unquestionably plausible, I would disagree and tend to think, as I thought was the case with some lengthy portions of Lampleys' call, that a card for Martinez would have to be predicated on spending more time watching what Martinez was doing, to the exclusion of Williams. It's an easy mistake to make because Williams is so constant that to see the aggression effectively counter-attacked is enticing. Martinez was indeed able to do so in spots and he showed great heart and skill...but that is not to say he won the fight. He was able to make it close...which against Paul Williams means you are a special fighter. At least on this night.

Which brings us to the best question: rematch? Martinez says he wants to do it and Williams says he's willing. I say do it! Will Martinez be able to handle a fully prepared Williams, who definitely won't take him lightly a second time around? Quintana couldn't. Does anyone else want to fight either of these guys? probably not. Can they build a meaningful rivalry between the two of them and continue to raise both their profiles with great fights? maybe...but the problem is that Williams won this one. It would work better if Martinez had won. Apart from not being able to find a fighter anywhere in the vast division neighborhood he's willing to occupy (from 147 lb to 160 lb and beyond), there's little incentive for Williams. But that "noone will fight me" problem is very real for him and I for one, would like to see this fight again. Will Martinez be another Quintana? I think not. But then again, do I think he can beat Williams in a rematch? No. But still...a realfightfan loves to see a real fight. And both of these men are real fighters.