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Sherman Williams Wants Rematch With Holyfield

Published

14 years ago

May 12, 2011

Williams calls-in Holyfield marker…..‘Tank’ Demands Rematch

FT. PIERCE, Florida (May 12, 2011) – Popular Bahamian heavyweight Sherman “The Tank” Williams has called-in his Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield-marker and demanded an immediate rematch that the future Hall of Famer verbally agreed to after their January 22^nd fight in West Virginia ended in a highly controversial “no contest” due to Holyfield’s left eye suffering a cut from a ‘ruled’ unintentional clash of heads.

Williams (34-11-2, 19 KOs) patiently waited through three proposed fights against Holyfield that were cancelled before finally fighting January 22 on a Integrated Sports Media pay-per-view event live from The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs. Williams was led on all three judges’ scorecards, by identical scores of 29-28, after three rounds when referee Dave Johnson surprisingly halted the match.

Holyfield returned to the ring last weekend in Denmark, stopping Brien Nielson in the 10^th round.

“Holyfield said in the ring during a post fight interview with Benny Ricardo on the pay-per-view show that he would give me a rematch,” Williams said. “It was copied on DVD and posted on You Tube. The referee had no business making that decision or even officiating the fight. The World Boxing Federation could not overruled his bad decision to make it a no contest, but could have taken a stronger position to declare me the champion or demand a rematch. I took that fight very personal. It was originally supposed to happen November 6 and 11, again December 12, and finally did happen January 22. The delays cost me time and money but also gave me extra time to train with John David Jackson to prepare a game plan to beat Holyfield. A rematch with Holyfield not only would be big in the Bahamas, but having the living legend Evander Holyfield fight would be huge throughout the Caribbean. I’ve been waiting for a break my entire career but all I’ve been is continually victimized.

“I’m aggressive and Holyfield is a counter-aggressive fighter who has to bounce before he jumps in. I baited him in and hurt him with some big overhand rights. He’s a very intelligent fighter, a genius who cleverly and gets away with a lot in the ring. If you look a replay of our fight, early in the second round there was a clash of heads, but no blood at all. With 10 seconds left I hit him with a shot, another powerful overhand right, and he stumbled back wiping his eye with his glove. That’s when he started bleeding. He came out to fight in the third without a problem seeing, but I hurt him with a body shot that knocked him halfway across the ring and then I almost put him away at the end of the round with more overhand rights. Between rounds the referee went to Holyfield’s corner and gave him his options. That was unusual for a ref to do. The referee helped him to escape, which was ludicrous, and there clearly was no blood flowing when the referee called a halt to the bout. The pay-per-view announcers noted that during the broadcast. When I returned home to the Bahamas, some people who bought the pay-per-view asked me if they could get refunds. Holyfield quit and that certainly didn’t help his ‘Warrior’ reputation. I was robbed!

“Then at the post fight press conference he insinuated that I was a dirty fighter trying to hurt him. For his entire career he’s been one of the dirtiest fighters of all time. If a boxer doesn’t want to get hurt, he should play tennis. He hasn’t given me a rematch because he’s either afraid or just unwilling to get back in the ring with me. After a cheap win against Nielson he doesn’t deserve to be considered as a world title fight challenger against the Klitchkos (Wladimir and Vitali) or Haye (David), not without getting past me first. Our fight wasn’t redemption (name of the event) for him. He quit to save his fight in Denmark. Holyfield owes me a fight. I was prepared for victory last January and will be again if he gives me a rematch. I’m not mad at the guy but he should stick to his word. If that cut was so bad why didn’t he get suspended for 60 days? I’m asking the boxing world to support me by holding Holyfield to his word.”

Williams went on to say he came to the United States in 2007 to live the American Dream like so many world heavyweight champs he had idolized, only to have his opportunity for a major fight get derailed when Holyfield got away with quitting before Williams knocked out the future Hall of Famer.

“The public should demand that Holyfield fight Sherman again,” Williams’ manager Si Stern commented. “What happened that night (Jan. 22) was horrible. I spent a lot of time and money to get that fight done. My fighter trained for months, putting his heart and soul into it, only to get screwed. There’s no doubt about that. It was a terrible decision by the referee. Why didn’t he say anything about the cut coming from a head-butt until after the fight was over?

“It’s so sad. Holyfield said in the ring right after the fight, and once again in the post fight press conference, that he’d give us a rematch. Then he goes off to fight a guy who hadn’t fought in nine years. What a travesty! The only reason he won’t fight Sherman is that he’s afraid. The Bahamas would be a perfect spot for a rematch. Sherman’s promoter, David Johnson, has had discussions with officials in the Bahamas and they’ve shown interest. But there are other viable sites with WBF support for Holyfield-Williams II.

“This is a fact: The referee never indicated that there was a head-butt during the fight, only after he stopped the fight. There’s no doubt in my mind that Holyfield’s corner wasn’t going to send him out for the fourth round after the beating Sherman gave him in the third round. They would have stopped the fight if the referee hadn’t. Sherman is ready, winning and able to fight Holyfield again. We’re only a call, text or email away.”

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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