Comments Thread For: Williams, Martinez Both Better Then Imagined: Report Card

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Cliff Rold - Part of what makes boxing, sport in general, so exciting is the ability to play upon the imagination; the ability to surprise and shock, to disappoint and surpass expectations. Boxing allows for the viewer to draft in their mind what is to come at the opening bell and then top it while still allowing room for an angry howl on an otherwise perfect night.

Saturday was all of the above in the Middleweight division.

Unstrained eyes could see over the last couple years how good Paul Williams (38-1, 27 KO) has become. Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KO) had plied his trade on smaller stages until the last year or so but showed revelatory talent when he got his shot. Versus Alex Bunema and Kermit Cintron, it was clear Martinez was good. [Click Here To Read More]

[Brockton Lip]

Excellent article and its good to see both fighters being praised instead of idiots making threads consisting of words like exposed, overrated, hype, or robbed.
Finally someone got it right. Good job Cliff!

[DeepSleep]

Excellent article and it's a bloody shame the casual fan didn't get to see this fight. Fights like this are what would bring boxing back to the mainstream and fighters with the mentality of Williams and Martinez who aren't afraid of fighting anyone are the perfect kind of fighters to give casual fans the fights they could enjoy.

[ShoulderRoll]

I want to see them go at it again. Maybe for Martinez 154-pound belt next time.

[Borko]

all these articles i read about this fight being so good makes me feel more like an idiot for missing it. With that said, i would love to see pavlik vs williams and sturm v martinez in a mini tournament maybe?

[karrapato]

Amazing article, that's the best boxing can offer. Two 'A' level fighters looking to be the best for real!

Taking risks is the main reason for boxing be in the mainstream.

[GRUSTLER]

Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams did not expose each other but instead
engaged and fought each other with heart and determination. Whenever
you put two very good fighters in the ring this is what produces. Can't
believe reading so many comments saying Williams is overrated because
he couldn't dominate Martinez? Martinez is a really good boxer. Just
because Paul Williams has a somewhat bigger name than Sergio Martinez
doesn't mean that Williams should have beat Martinez down. The only
thing I say tainted the fight is the fact that the judges had to horrific
score card. The fight should have been called exactly the way it was
seen. That's the problem in Boxing, the corrupt system that keep
robbing the fighters and the fans.

[Crazylegs77]

By Cliff Rold - Part of what makes boxing, sport in general, so exciting is the ability to play upon the imagination; the ability to surprise and shock, to disappoint and surpass expectations. Boxing allows for the viewer to draft in their mind what is to come at the opening bell and then top it while still allowing room for an angry howl on an otherwise perfect night.

Saturday was all of the above in the Middleweight division.

Unstrained eyes could see over the last couple years how good Paul Williams (38-1, 27 KO) has become. Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KO) had plied his trade on smaller stages until the last year or so but showed revelatory talent when he got his shot. Versus Alex Bunema and Kermit Cintron, it was clear Martinez was good. [Click Here To Read More]

Both men put on a good fight.
Williams, if anything it proved he has heart and get up off the canvas, not how good he has become. He really needs to work on his defense if he is going to stick around especially at MW. Not to mention that this bout was actually supposed to be his grand statement to the boxing world that he was indeed the most feared fighter. So in a way all the hype actually backfired and ended up diminishing his performance.

And as for Martinez a lot of people underestimated him and he showed he has some impressive skills, toughness and some suprising pop in his punches at MW but could work on his stamina.

Also lol at the pre and post fight fighter grades they both had the same power and defense score really?

[slindee3]

Both men put on a good fight.
Williams, if anything it proved he has heart and get up off the canvas, not how good he has become. He really needs to work on his defense if he is going to stick around especially at MW. Not to mention that this bout was actually supposed to be his grand statement to the boxing world that he was indeed the most feared fighter. So in a way all the hype actually backfired and ended up diminishing his performance.

And as for Martinez a lot of people underestimated him and he showed he has some impressive skills, toughness and some suprising pop in his punches at MW but could work on his stamina.

Also lol at the pre and post fight fighter grades they both had the same power and defense score really?

I agree that Pwill needs to work on his defense but unless he's fighting someone as fast as Martinez he won't be geting hit as much as he did Saturday. Who else is as fast as Martinez in the Jr or middleweight category? It hasn't taken away from his performance. I did underestimate Martinez. I thought because he fought with his hands down that he would be an easy target for Pwill but obviously that wasn't the case.

About the judge with the outrageous score, I'm wondering if the judge was paid for coming up with that score! Goosen is trying to make AC Pwill main venue and the judge is from NJ. Just sayin.

[LEFTYGUNZZ]

Both men put on a good fight.
Williams, if anything it proved he has heart and get up off the canvas, not how good he has become. He really needs to work on his defense if he is going to stick around especially at MW. Not to mention that this bout was actually supposed to be his grand statement to the boxing world that he was indeed the most feared fighter. So in a way all the hype actually backfired and ended up diminishing his performance.
And as for Martinez a lot of people underestimated him and he showed he has some impressive skills, toughness and some suprising pop in his punches at MW but could work on his stamina.

Also lol at the pre and post fight fighter grades they both had the same power and defense score really?

I disagree with this statement sir. If anything there aren't too many fighters out there now that would want to engage him maybe less after a performance like that. he fought a slick crafty south paw with blazing speed and akwardness. He took some BIG SHOTS especially right hooks and lefts to the body. His punch output was still very high int he fight and he used his jab and left cross to match martinez ounch for punch. Even though I scored the fight for Martinez too me there is no way Williams comes out of this losing his title of most feared....Lefty