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Danny Williams
 Daniel
"Danny" Williams (born 13 July 1973, London, England) is a British
professional heavyweight boxer, current British heavyweight title holder
and former Commonwealth champion.
Amateur
As an amateur boxing out of the famous Lynn AC boxing gym in SE London,
Williams learned his trade quickly, often sparring with the likes of
clubmates Henry Akinwande and Derek Angol. In 1991 Williams won the PLA
tournament and won a gold medal in Sardinia multination tournament and a
gold medal in a Greek multinations tournament. In a Finland multinations
in 1992 he won a bronze medal.
Williams won a bronze medal at the European Championships 1993 at
heavyweight in the 91kg/201 lbs limit and bronze at super heavyweight at
the 1994 Commonwealth Games[1]. Williams also won a gold medal at the 1994
Liverpool multinations tournament. His amateur record was 29-6.
Professional
Williams turned pro in 1995 knocking out Vance Ideans in two rounds. He
fought routinely on Frank Warren undercards and compiled a 15-0 (12
knockouts) record.
He took his first big step up in April 1999 to challenge Julius Francis
for his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. A hot favourite,
Williams was outboxed and lost a points decision to the 34 year old
veteran.
Francis would later vacate the Commonwealth title for a big money fight
with Mike Tyson, and Williams won the title with a closely contested split
decision over respected British contender (and former amateur clubmate)
Harry Senior.
[edit] British and Commonwealth champion
In 2000 Williams put together four knockouts before fighting Mark Potter
for the Commonwealth title and the vacant British title. In a dramatic
fight, Williams suffered a grotesque dislocated right arm, yet very
bravely fought on with one arm and knocked Potter out with a left
uppercut. [2]
After an eight month layoff for surgery and recovery, Williams returned to
bomb out Kali Meehan in 32 seconds [3], then avenged his defeat to
Francis, stopping the 36 year old on an eye injury in the 4th round. [4]
Afterwards he was signed by Don King and ended 2001 knocking out US
journeyman Shaun Robinson in two rounds on an undercard in America.[5]
His tenure under King would prove to be uneventful, and he did not renew
his contract at the end of 2002, a year that saw Williams retain his
British and Commonwealth titles with a knockout of late sub Michael Sprott
[6] and a points win over Keith Long [7], before dropping out of a fight
in America with hard hitting South African southpaw Corrie Sanders,
because it coincided with Ramadan.
In February 2003 Williams travelled to Germany to fight the Turk Sinan
Samil Sam for his European heavyweight title. A hot favourite, Williams
was surprisingly dropped three times and stopped in six rounds. [8] In the
UK, his local rivals
Audley Harrison and Herbie Hide derided him in the press.
In January 2004 Williams re-signed with Frank Warren. After two comeback
knockout wins, in July he went to Louisville, Kentucky to fight the
infamous Mike Tyson. In a sensational win, Williams took the ex-champs
best shots and outpunched him in true world-class heavywieght fashion,
knocking out the former world champion with a torrent of punches in the
fourth round. After the fight Williams earned the nickname 'the man who
knocked out Tyson'. It however revealed that Tyson had torn a knee
ligament in the first round which explained why Tyson was far from his
best.
Vitali Klitschko vs. Danny Williams; photo courtesy Bret Newton.In
December he finally challenged for the world heavyweight title, but the
giant Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko proved too much, as Williams was stopped
in the 8th round.[9]
[edit] After the world title challenge
In December Williams regained his old Commonwealth belt by beating
undefeated, Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison.
Williams retained the Commonwealth title with a win over undefeated Matt
Skelton in March 2006.
In December 2006 when Skelton dropped out of a fight with Audley Harrison,
Williams stepped in at a weeks notice, although by his own admission he
had been training for eight weeks for a fight with British champion Scott
Gammer. Williams lost by tko in the 3rd round, suffering a broken nose.
In March 2007 Williams held onto his British title in Wales with a 9th
round knockout of Scott Gammer. Williams came in at the lightest he had
been since his pro debut 16 stones 4 pounds {4 stones lighter than his
previous fight} after training himself for the fight just with a piece of
paper that contained a conditioning programme given to him by Joe Dunbar
who had worked with Lennox Lewis.
After he had watched the tape of his fight with Gammer, Williams decided
he would continue boxing and took a fight with 26-1 22 KOs Ukrainian
prospect Oleg Platov. He came in again at 270lbs. Both fighters were
engaged in wild exchanges from the first bell on. The Ukrainian picked up
a badly-bleeding cut above the left eye following an accidental headbutt
in the second round and he continued to swing wild punches but not without
taking some huge shots from Williams. After 2:15 in the fourth and with
the cut getting worse, the referee waved the fight off. According to the
rules of the IBF, it was declared a no contest. Sauerland managing
director Chris Meyer defended the decision. "The rules are clear," he
said. "We had an accidental headbutt and the referee, who consulted the
doctor several times, ruled he could not continue to protect his health.
Speaking exclusively to SecondsOut after the fight a disappointed Williams
said: “He (Platov) was looking for a way out and he got it. He knew the
rules and worked them. He was starting to tire and knew it was only a
matter of time before I knocked him out.
“I found it slow in the early rounds but I when I got going I started to
get on top. He knew I was gonna knock him out and he was looking for a way
out. I’m not sure whether or not it was a punch or a head clash that cut
him in the second round. It took be a little while to get going but I
really enjoyed it, it was a great fight while it lasted. But he was
looking for a way out. He kept falling to the floor and it was only a
matter of time before I knocked him out.”
Airich fight
On 30 May 2008 Williams defeated unbeaten German, Konstantin Airich in a
highly controversial fight. Williams had a total of 3 points deducted in
rounds 2 and 5 [1] creating a feeling afterwards that the referee was
blatantly on the side of the German. In addition he was given 2 standing 8
counts by the referee in round 3 despite not actually being knocked down
or touching the canvas, and was also counted after slipping in round 4
[2]. After managing to fight back and score a knockdown himself in round
5, in the 6th round Williams unleashed a series of extremely punishing
blows on his opponent sending him reeling across the ring. At this point
Airich's promoter Ahmet Oner controversially ran over and rang the
timekeeper's bell himself to end the round and save his fighter, even
though there was still 1:28 left to go in the round[3] Despite this
confusion the fight continued after the shortened 6th round and after
seeing his man absorb more heavy punishment in the next round Oner
eventually threw in the towel handing Williams a 7th round TKO victory.
In the aftermath of the fight Williams was extremely critical of the
performance of both the referee and fight promoters, and has called for
the British Boxing Board of Control to conduct an immediate investigation
into the fight.[4] [5]
McDermott fight
Williams faced John McDermott at Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on 18
July 2008. Despite being deducted three points in rounds eleven and
twelve, he defeated McDermott in a majority points decision. He was due to
face John McDermott in a rematch at York Hall on 8 November 2008, and
would potentially have faced a bout with Francois Botha on 30 November
2008 in Egypt [6] but in the event McDermott withdrew due to a rib injury.
The fight was finally arranged and was his most current fight - the
rematch against McDermott on the 2 May 2009 in a defence of the British
Heavyweight and Commonwealth Championship belts that Williams currently
holds. Williams won the match on points and outboxed Mcdermott proving who
the better boxer was. Williams is the current British Heavyweight
Champion.
Prizefighter
Williams is now due to take part in the Prizefighter tournament which is
scheduled to take place on 2 October 2009. This tournament will feature
eight British fighters and also includes former Olympic gold medallist and
former Williams foe Audley Harrison.[7]
Islam
Williams is a devout Muslim and was first drawn to Islam while abroad, "I
went to Turkey and heard the Adhan (the call to pray)" he explained. "I
was a Christian at the time and I got goose pimples and carried on looking
into Islam and I just felt this was the way of life for me and this was
the way of life for God.
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