So long Big Danny Williams

[stujones]

Beating the undefeated Kali Meehan in 30 seconds wasn't bad either. My fave Danny moment was watching him KO Tyson with a 22 punch combination, winning me money at the same time, it had me jumping round the living room at 5 in the morning

Happy retirement Danny!

Me also!!!! I don't think Danny was the same after Samil Sam, but he was damn good at the end of that fight.

[n1ebf]

When he weighed 16st 4lbs when he beat Gammer he was sharp, fast & moved decent! He simply cannot do that when he like three stone heavier!

Danny reckons the scales were faulty for that weigh-in, he says he was 18-19 stone when he weighed himself in the gym. Which rings true when you look at the weights in his other fights surrounding the Gammer fight

272 Audley 2005/12/10
267 Skelton
263 Serin
288 Skelton
267 Audley
228 Gammer
270 Platov
258 McGee
267 Airich
265 John McDermott 2008/07/18

when they're that far out mate, rigged is a more appropriate word.

Anyone that can , not on purpose, weigh in some boxers and f*ck it up by that much is an imbecile.

[Spud]

Yep all the best Danny Williams.

When he could have been really good there were too many distractions.

[black panther]

All the best Danny, if the retirement is true here's wishing you a happy and fulfiled retirement - you've earnt it Personally I'd like him to just settle the score with Baker and then call it day. But some cracking memories: The Meehan ko, the 22 punch combo Tyson ko, the second controversial Sprott fight ko, getting rocked all over the show by Australian giant Bob Mirovic and losing rounds until taking the fight by the scruff of the neck and unloading a viscious salvo to leave the giant defenceless, the three left uppercuts in succession followed by a right-hand combo that ko'ed the journeyman Robinson on his USA debut.....Danny you'll be missed that's for sure.

All in all I agree with David Payne that perhaps at the right place, at the right time, Danny could have picked up a world title but then so could be said of any decent heavyweight who can punch. All the talent in the world but mentally truly an enigma, Danny Williams, a great british heavyweight champion.

[Boxingmad]

He was so frustrating, and if you ever watched him in the gym you would think you were looking at an undisputed champion in the making. He was so fast, he really was and I remember watching him spar Oleg Maskaev in Gleasons Gym in New York back in April 2000 and he really manhandled Oleg in the several days we were there. But his weight was always an issue, and as we all know it pretty much affected his career from about 1997 onwards (when he turned pro he was very lean indeed).
But the one thing that sticks out in my mind was his heart & courage in the ring. I don't think I've witnessed anything as unbelievable as the come-from-behind victory against Mark Potter in 2000. That and standing right in front of Mike Tyson and winning in 4 rounds and doing the same thing against Vitali Klitschko months later in Las Vegas (albeit losing of course!). The guy just refused to quit or back down. Whatever you say about his weight etc, there was no denying his heart.

[DavidPayne]

Heart the size of a bucket, a rudy big bucket.

Yep. The right step at the right time, with the right opponent and he might just have won a world-title.

I suppose the Sam defeat really derailed his original move toward that shot. He was always playing catch up after that and there was always man-trap preventing his progress.

[rhino222]

great guy and great warrior, spud and i travelled to vegas to support his klitschko challenge. i was ringside when he sparked meehan, when he beat julius in the rematch and various other fights he had. danny always gave his all but sometimes needed to be battered to stimulate him into some sort of retaliation, unfortunately, at the end of his career, he could not recover from the battering to retaliate.

[Autobarn]

was never a fan, personally. all those fights where he came in obese. those rubbish slow fights v audley and skelton. massive turn off, though he had some memorable moments.

[stujones]

Heart the size of a bucket, a rudy big bucket.

Yep. The right step at the right time, with the right opponent and he might just have won a world-title.

I suppose the Sam defeat really derailed his original move toward that shot. He was always playing catch up after that and there was always man-trap preventing his progress.

Nearly every aspect of Danny was an enigma. He would show heart and courage and balls the size of a lion staring face to face with Tyson. He should ALWAYS be remembered for the Potter fight... but then, he "froze" against Samil Sam and fought in a shell (as he did vs Francis in fight 1)... and imo he whilst he showed courage against Klitchsko - let the occasion get to him there with his performance.

He really didn't fancy the Sam fight from taking the jab in the opener.... Did he just have an underlying lack of belief, doubt on his resistance. When confident and faced with a nothing to lose - Tyson, dislocated shoulder... he could have mixed with anyone. Just a pitty it never happend for him consisently enough.

[Coco]

Danny was one of my favourite fighters, total enigma though, spoke to him a couple of times and is clearly a really nice bloke. He has had some good paydays too, and doesn't seem like the sort to have blown it, I sincerely wish him a very happy retirement

[Chambers2]

When he weighed 16st 4lbs when he beat Gammer he was sharp, fast & moved decent! He simply cannot do that when he like three stone heavier!

Danny reckons the scales were faulty for that weigh-in, he says he was 18-19 stone when he weighed himself in the gym. Which rings true when you look at the weights in his other fights surrounding the Gammer fight

272 Audley 2005/12/10
267 Skelton
263 Serin
288 Skelton
267 Audley
228 Gammer
270 Platov
258 McGee
267 Airich
265 John McDermott 2008/07/18

Scales might have been faulty, but being out by a 21lbs or 28lbs? I highly doubt that! Besides, you could see just by looking at him, Danny was a great deal lighter for the Gammer fight!

Maybe so I was just going on what Danny said on that ITV magazine type show they had on for a while. It seems unlikely to me though that Danny lost 40lbs in less than 3 months and weighed in at his lightest since his pro debut, but this is Danny Williams we're talking about so anything's possible

[Coco]

I was around for the Gammer fight and he was in proper shape, and put in one of his better performances in recent years

[DavidPayne]

If the real Danny Williams had ever turned up we'd be lauding the world's best heavy ever...........

Let's not lose out heads here, he would have been very good but nowhere near the top, top level.

Well the original comment was too much but I'd ask, just how much more ability than Danny did Lamon Brewster, Sam Peter or Oleg Maskaev have?

[oliverfennell]

If the real Danny Williams had ever turned up we'd be lauding the world's best heavy ever...........

Let's not lose out heads here, he would have been very good but nowhere near the top, top level.

Well the original comment was too much but I'd ask, just how much more ability than Danny did Lamon Brewster, Sam Peter or Oleg Maskaev have?

About the same level as Brewster, but Brewster (and Peter) had much the better chin. Williams had a pretty poor chin, really - people always say Audley is chinny, but how many times has Danny been dropped? Peter better than Williams overall, while Maskaev had a comparable chin but better technical skills.

Remember Danny was supposed to fight Maskaev after Tyson, until he landed the Klitschko shot? And Danny was a big favourite for that. With hindsight, that could easily have derailed him.

[Boxingmad]

I wonder if the Samil Sam loss was due to him fighting overseas for a major title for the first time and with a very partisan & hostile crowd baying for his blood he just froze and was overawed by it all.

[Exoddus]

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IegMa34D ... re=related

The Danny back then with one arm. Would have won prizefighter.

[stujones]

I wonder if the Samil Sam loss was due to him fighting overseas for a major title for the first time and with a very partisan & hostile crowd baying for his blood he just froze and was overawed by it all.

I don't think it was. Samil Sam said after the fight "I knew after the first round I had the fight won, my jab was the key". I think he was correct, Sam, for all his slow footness, is an intelligent fighter with a fighters mentality. I think Danny was stunned by the power of Sam's jab - remember Sam was percieved to be a complete non puncher. Danny showed courage to stay up for as long as he did, but he seemed to lose all belief the minute he started taking Sam's jab.

I cannot say he fought scared, but Sam drained his confidence gradually and by the end of the first round Danny didn't look like he thought he could win.

[DG.]

I wonder if the Samil Sam loss was due to him fighting overseas for a major title for the first time and with a very partisan & hostile crowd baying for his blood he just froze and was overawed by it all.

Shingles, officially.

Plus those lead uppercuts danny likes to throw, countered everytime.

[oliverfennell]

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IegMa34D ... re=related

The Danny back then with one arm. Would have won prizefighter.

When I saw that, I said to myself I will never, EVER, bet against this guy!

[ERIC GUY]

good luck with the plumbing in the future danny hope your just as happy running it as you were boxing for world honours


edit i typed plumping instead of plumbing

He doesnt have a plumbing firm it's just someone with the same name who advertised at fight, check danny talking about his firm here:
http://www.dannywilliamsplumbing.com/

We had weighin there for Danny Williams V McDermott, opps Franks office in chistlhurst

[funso banjo baby]

legend

[stujones]

I would love to speak to members of Danny Williams' team, thinking back about his career. Did he ever watch videos of his old performances. He seemed to geniunally believe that he was better at 18 stone plus. Even directly after the Gammer fight (his best performance in recent years) he wasn't convinced it was good "I have to watch the fight" - even suggesting he would retire.

Yet, after his win over Audley Harrison.... in a dire performance (from both guys) he thought he was brilliant.

I was wondering how delusional was he.