19.08.06 – By Tim Nielson: In a fight that most people expected to a complete slaughter it, indeed, turned out to be just that, with the 6’1″ welterweight Paul Williams (31-0, 23 KO’s) steam rolling over the much smaller, seemingly helpless, 5’7″ ring veteran Sharmba Mitchell, stopping him in the 4th round, in a fight that was one-sided from the beginning. Put simply, Sharmba never had a chance, for from the very start of the fight, Williams was like a buzzsaw, throwing punches from every angle, with almost all of them connecting to the 35-year-old Mitchell’s head.
Not only was Mitchell getting beaten down, he was unable mount much return fire due to his limited reach. Hence, without anything to keep Williams off of him, Mitchell’s head became target practice fo the 25-year-old Southpaw from Augusta, Georgia.
In the 3rd round, Williams connected with a solid left hand that knocked Mitchell down. He made it up, badly hurt and gamely continued on, fighting with essentially nothing and trying to hold off possibly the best Welterweight in the division. Williams finished the round strong, landing numerous combinations. In the 4th round, Mitchell, still hurt from the previous round, was stunned by another big left hook by Williams, sending Mitchell down again. He made it up, but was knocked down again by Williams.
Finally, after the 3rd knockdown of the round, the referee stepped in and called a halt to the bout, ending the slaughter at 2:57 of the 4th round.
At this point, there’s no denying that Paul Williams is for real, and with this dominating performance, he showed that he’s a threat to any of the top welterweights in the division, such as Antonio Margarito and Floyd Mayweather Jr., neither of which would match up well against him, given his massive offensive arsenal. Against a smaller welterweight, like Ricky Hatton, I see Williams blasting him out within 5 rounds.