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When an already twenty-six year
old Richard Williams
lost his third professional bout
to Michael Alexander (13-22), on
points in September of 1997, one
would be hard pressed to find
many who believed he would
eventually develop into an
exciting fan-favorite world
champion.
Londoner Williams probably found
it hard to believe himself, and
that may have played a part in
the fact that he would not box
again for over two years. But
when he returned, he did so with
a vengeance, demolishing eight
straight opponents inside the
distance in just over a year.
Between October of 1999 and
December of 2000, only one
opponent, former IBF world
title-challenger Howard Clarke
(26-14-2), managed to see the
fourth round, while tough
adversaries such as Kevin
Thomson (13-7), Piotr Bartnicki
(8-1-3) and Aziz Daari (13-4-1)
were blown out in one, three and
two.
Nicknamed “The Secret”, it would
not be long before that moniker
came across as somewhat ironic,
as more or less every British
boxing fan couldn't help being
mesmerized by the power and
aggressive style Williams
brought to the ring.
The executives at Sky Sports
television also loved Williams,
so promoter Barry Hearn found it
easy to get him prime TV slots.
Such was the case when Williams
was set to challenge Tony Badea
(24-3-1) for the Romanian-born
Canadian´s Commonwealth Super
Welterweight title in January of
2001.
Badea was, at least on paper, by
far the biggest challenge of
Williams career at that point,
but he posed the Englishman few
problems and was impressively
halted in the third round. At
11-1 (10), “The Secret” was well
and truly out!
Tough-as-nails UK-based Syrian
Hussain Osman (8-2) became the
first man since the loss to
Alexander to go the full
distance with Williams, when
Williams won a closer than
expected ten round
non-title-fight decision the
following June.
But three months on, Williams
restored whatever hype he may
have lost against Osman, when
Andrew Murray (27-6-1) from
Guyana, a former WBA world
title-challenger, was disposed
of in the third round of his
first Commonwealth
title-defense.
Now a regular headline act on
Sky Sports, Williams dismissed
durable Ukrainian Viktor
Fesechko (34-22-3) in the sixth
round of a rare
undercard-appearance a month
later, staying busy before a
planned clash with world class
Australian Shannan Taylor
(29-2-1) on the first day of
December 2001.
Besides being a second
Commonwealth title-defense for
Williams, the vacant IBO World
title was also on the line, and
Taylor, who had challenged Shane
Mosley for the WBC world
welterweight title eight months
earlier, was expected to give
him all he could handle.
That was not the case, however,
and Williams made a big
statement when he stopped Taylor
in the fourth round, one round
quicker than hall-of-fame-bound
Mosley had done. His first world
championship secured, the world
appeared to be his oyster.
On June 29, 2002 at the
Brentwood Centre, just outside
London, Williams made his first
IBO world title-defense against
Welshman Paul Samuels (16-1-1),
and retained his belt with a
technical draw in round three,
as the fight was halted due to
an accidental clash of heads.
Williams stopped Samuels in the
tenth round of the rematch five
months later, lining up a March
2003 unification showdown with
Uzbekistan-born Russian World
Boxing Federation (WBF) World
Champion Andrey Pestryaev
(29-4).
Pestryaev, a former European
Welterweight Champion, had won
the WBF World title in July of
2002 in Birmingham, with a
majority decision over then
unbeaten Steve Roberts (29-0),
and he returned to England with
clear intentions to again defeat
the local hero.
But Williams was on another
level, and while he didn't get
Petryaev out inside the distance
he won every round on all three
judges scorecards for a
land-slide unanimous decision.
He was now the WBF and IBO World
Super Welterweight Champion!
Williams was clearly among the
best in the world in his
weight-class, but he met his
nemesis in Argentinean Sergio
“Maravilla” Martinez (28-1-1),
who beat him by relatively close
decision on June 21, 2003 in
Manchester.
In January of 2004 Williams
regained the Commonwealth title
when he stopped colorful
Ghanaian Ayitey Powers (9-2-1)
at London´s York Hall, but in
his next fight he was stopped in
the ninth round of a rematch
with Martinez.
A move up to Middleweight
followed, and Williams won three
low-profile bouts before taking
on Howard Eastman (40-4) for the
vacant British title in December
2006. Eastman won by twelfth
round knockout, effectively
pushing Williams into retirement
at 35 years of age.
Five-and-a-half years later, in
June of 2012, Williams began
what can only be described as an
ill-advised comeback at 41. He
could probably have won a few
so-called easy fights, but
instead he took on Lithuanian
contender Virgilijus Stapulionis
(18-1) and was stopped in the
first round.
His final record 21-5-1 (17),
and a former WBF and IBO World
Champions, as well as two-time
Commonwealth Champion, Richard
Williams is still involved with
boxing as a trainer, and
continues to live in London. He
is an instructor at, and
co-founder of, “The Secret
Boxing Gym”.
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