Knockouts don't come much nastier than the one we saw tonight. They also don't come much more shocking.
Last December, Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams engaged in a 12-round war, won narrowly by Williams. Tonight, the rematch, among the most anticipated fights of the year, ended stunningly in the second round when Martinez (46-2-2, 26 KO) tore through Williams with a single, massive left hand, knocking him out face-down on the mat in awe-inspiring fashion.
Williams (39-2, 27 KO) was out as soon as the shot landed. After the fight, he told HBO's Max Kellerman that he simply got caught, and it's hard to argue with that. Williams never saw the shot coming, and it landed perfectly. Williams appeared to be mostly alright after the fight, and left under his own power, but it was a pretty scary knockout to be sure.
This raises Martinez's stock even more. He said that Williams left himself open enough, and that the fight went how he expected it would. Both fighters were throwing punches again, coming out aggressively, though there was more holding in this one than last year.
If only there was much more to say about this one, but there really isn't. After all, not much to report. But it's a can't-miss knockout, and Sergio Martinez is legit as the middleweight champ.
For the record, Martinez said he can get down to 156 pounds for a catchweight mega-fight, if one were to come his way.
Off TV Results from Atlantic City:
Last December, Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams engaged in a 12-round war, won narrowly by Williams. Tonight, the rematch, among the most anticipated fights of the year, ended stunningly in the second round when Martinez (46-2-2, 26 KO) tore through Williams with a single, massive left hand, knocking him out face-down on the mat in awe-inspiring fashion.
Williams (39-2, 27 KO) was out as soon as the shot landed. After the fight, he told HBO's Max Kellerman that he simply got caught, and it's hard to argue with that. Williams never saw the shot coming, and it landed perfectly. Williams appeared to be mostly alright after the fight, and left under his own power, but it was a pretty scary knockout to be sure.
This raises Martinez's stock even more. He said that Williams left himself open enough, and that the fight went how he expected it would. Both fighters were throwing punches again, coming out aggressively, though there was more holding in this one than last year.
If only there was much more to say about this one, but there really isn't. After all, not much to report. But it's a can't-miss knockout, and Sergio Martinez is legit as the middleweight champ.
For the record, Martinez said he can get down to 156 pounds for a catchweight mega-fight, if one were to come his way.
Off TV Results from Atlantic City:
- Fernando Guerrero TKO-4 Saul Duran - Guerrero (20-0, 16 KO) stays unbeaten with another win over a solid journeyman veteran. He might be ready to step up into contention in 2011.
- Tony Thompson TKO-4 Paul Marinaccio - Thompson improves to 35-2 (23 KO) with the win over Marinaccio, another journeyman. Maybe Thompson can wrangle another title shot, but at 39, he better hope it comes soon. Lesser fighters keep getting shots at belts, and few have given Wladimir Klitschko as much trouble (admittedly not much) as Thompson did.
- Zsolt Erdei UD-8 Samson Onyango - Erdei fights for the first time since November 2009, when he won a cruiserweight trinket he didn't know he was fighting for. The former long-reigning 175-pound titleholder is now fighting for DiBella Entertainment after years of wasting his career with Universum.
