Antonio Margarito vs Paul Willliams: Commentary
A Look Back at How the Punisher Dethroned theTijuana Tornado
Dec 16, 2008
Carson, CA - (July 15, 2007) The fight, held in the outdoor tennis venue at the Home Depot Center, started with the southpaw Williams immediately pumping out jabs and firing a straight left to Margarito’s chest. Margarito revealed his game plan early by shooting hard rights to Williams ripped belly. The pro Margarito crowd roared with every Margarito punch and booed vociferously as Williams clinched on the inside. Williams stayed on the outside and peppered Margarito with jabs and straight lefts while constantly giving angles and creating new looks.
Paul Williams: Volume Puncher
Williams continued to throw punches in high volume in round two as Margarito seemed unable to cut the ring off on the taller challenger. The hardest punch of the round went to the champion as he backed Williams up at one point with a hard right hand to the head. Margarito caught most of Williams punches with his gloves but Williams continued to out-work Margarito.
As Williams flashed speedy combinations and pivoted off of his front foot, giving angles and slipping punches, Margarito continued his workman-like pursuit of Williams’ body. By the end of the third round Margarito’s face was reddened and he seemed frustrated by his inability to catch up to Williams.
The fight continued the blueprint laid out in the first few rounds as Williams’ simply out hustled Margarito while occasionally getting caught with hard right hands. Williams punch output appeared to double that of the champion. Margarito steadfastly followed Williams around the ring and drove rights to the body, while Williams scattered combinations off of Margarito’s face then held on the inside. In round six Williams’ output dropped noticeably as Margarito gained steam.
Antonio Margarito: Relentless
In round seven Margarito seemed to have found his range and bounced several hard rights off of Williams’ head and body. Williams’ punches lost some snap as he seemed content to just make contact instead of driving his leather home. Williams spent the last half of the round on his bicycle.
From round seven through round eleven Margarito appeared the stronger fighter as he backed Williams up and launched long, arcing rights to the head and left hooks to the body. Williams continued to maintain a higher work rate, but the more powerful shots came from Margarito. Two hard lefts from Williams snapped Margarito’s head back and gave him the edge in the ninth. A right hand opened up a deep cut over Williams’ left eye in the tenth, though Williams didn’t appear bothered by the blood.
Round eleven saw Margarito double Williams over with gut-busting body shots, but the challenger kept throwing right jabs backed with hard, straight lefts. Margarito whistled a left hook to Williams’ jaw and Williams’ answered with a right hook to the body. Williams had difficulty staying outside with his jab. It was Margarito’s best round.
The crowd chanted “Margarito” as the fighters touched gloves for the closing round. Williams returned to the circling and jabbing that had brought him success early in the fight and Margarito stalked his man, looking for opportunities to land but finding few. Each man landed hard shots but Williams was able to beat Margarito to the punch throughout the round.
At the post fight press conference, promoter Dan Goosen read the stats that made the difference: Total punches thrown by Williams was 1,256 compared to 652 for Margarito. Of those, 606 of Williams’ shots were jabs to only 61 for Margarito.
Afterwards, the heavily Mexican American crowd booed the decision, with shouts for a rematch ringing from every corner of the venue.
“I didn’t expect to come out of this fight with no bruises or cuts,” said the new champion. “He was the champion and he was bringing it, I knew I had to put rounds in the bank early.”
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