After one of the best Middleweight fights in years and what should have been a glorious night for the sport of boxing was marred by an indefensible scorecard turned in by judge Pierre Benoist, who scored it 119-110 for Williams, prompting the crowd of 2,927 to boo lustily. Judge Lynn Carter had it 115-113 for Williams and Julie Lederman had it 114-114. AbFitt had it 114-113 for Martinez in a fight that was close all the way and could have gone to either fighter.
After both fighters hitting the deck in the first round the fight featured nonstop, back-and-forth action from the opening bell and it never let up. Taking nothing from Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez repeatedly landed the bigger blows throughout the fight and simply never backed away from Williams aggressive yet in my opinion very amature like pity pat punches on the inside. Said Martinez, "It was an error. It was a true error. We should have a rematch."
As soon as the bell rang to start the fight, they were on the gas pedal. First it was Martinez going down on the end of a shot that caught him on the shoulder/neck area.
He popped up and didn't appear hurt and went right at Williams, eventually knocking him down on the end of a right hand just as the bell rang to conclude the round.
"It was a war. I was tying to make it a war and make him fight me," said Williams, who got his wish. "I had to get up and show him what a warrior is made of. I've been knocked down before in the gym and [I wanted to] show him what a true warrior is made of."
The wild first round set the stage for a war fought at an extremely high skill level.
Who says boxing is dead......"They call him the most feared fighter in the world but I didn't have any fear at all in this bout," Martinez said. "I know he is a good boxer and puncher, but I was never hurt. I wasn't exhausted. I actually wanted to pick up the pace later in the fight."
AbFitt-