270lb?? Seems a bit heavy, maybe he had weights in his pockets, like Piper suggested? Banking on an early win? Seems optimistic...
Danny Williams' Big Day
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MightyWarrior
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 13284
- Joined: 23 Jan 2003, 14:01
Danny Williams' Big Day
270lb?? Seems a bit heavy, maybe he had weights in his pockets, like Piper suggested? Banking on an early win? Seems optimistic...
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My T Sharp
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1933
- Joined: 16 May 2004, 13:32
At least he looks in shape and all the weight appears to be mostly muscle, i am always suspect about coming in too heavy though...i think speed has got to be a tactic Danny should towards, outpacing and outlasting Vitali. At that weight it's interesting to see how his stamina will be effected, anyway here's hoping.
Indeed Danny looks huge I was somewhat shocked when I heard this on Radio 5 yesterday morning (Radio 5 are covering the fight live apparently).
I assume coming in at this weight and saying that he has been watching Rocky Marciano videos he plans to get in close and put Vitali under constant pressure hoping to try and break the Champs heart and sap his strength and stamina.
If so I think this is his best chance of victory, staying too long at mid or long range means he will be in Vitalis punching 'power zone'. Danny need to get in close and let those fast hands fly, work the body and then the head.
Go Danny Boy.
I assume coming in at this weight and saying that he has been watching Rocky Marciano videos he plans to get in close and put Vitali under constant pressure hoping to try and break the Champs heart and sap his strength and stamina.
If so I think this is his best chance of victory, staying too long at mid or long range means he will be in Vitalis punching 'power zone'. Danny need to get in close and let those fast hands fly, work the body and then the head.
Go Danny Boy.
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MightyWarrior
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 13284
- Joined: 23 Jan 2003, 14:01
BAN ON SEX BRINGS OUT THE DEVIL IN DANNY
Mirror - Oliver Holt Chief Sports Writer Reports From Vegas
SHE has been here at a hotel on The Strip for a week now but in the nicest possible way, Danny Williams\' girlfriend has hardly been welcomed with open arms.
For a start, Williams wouldn\'t allow long-time partner Zoe or their kids to visit the house he has shared for more than two months with trainer Jimmy McDonnell in the nearby suburb of Henderson.
As tonight\'s WBC world heavyweight title showdown with Vitali Klitschko grew near, he even forbade her from phoning him. She could text. But that was it.
Williams said it would soften him to talk to Zoe. He said it would soothe him. And he didn\'t want to be soothed. Not yet.
\"Being away from my family helps to make me the person I need to be when I walk into the ring tomorrow night,\" Williams said yesterday. \"That person\'s a vicious person.
\"People say I have not had enough devil in my work in the past and that\'s because I\'ve been around my family too much before a fight. Not this time.\"
The enforced separation is just part of the desperate attempts he and McDonnell and promoter allegedly have been making to manage his fragile mind as the biggest night of his life approaches.
This is Danny\'s chance. Probably his only chance. His only shot at the title. His opportunity to complete what would be a quite astonishing reversal of fortune.
What a story it would be. Sweet redemption for a man whose career was on the skids less than 12 months ago and joy for those of us who have long known Williams is one of the most genuine and amiable men in sport anywhere.
The deeply religious Williams has the potential to cause the biggest upset in the heavyweight division since Hasim Rahman beat Lennox Lewis in South Africa in April 2001.
But unless his mind is right, it won\'t happen. Because it was his mind that let him down in the past. Not in terms of intelligence. But temperament. He allowed tension to defeat him and strangle his career.
It was so bad sometimes that it paralysed him. Left him mentally exhausted before he even climbed through the ropes. So bad it made him weep in the street the day before a fight. So bad it made him lose fights he should have won with one hand. Like against Michael Sprott in January.
So bad that after losing to Sprott, he decided he had to change. He had to relax. He had to stop winding himself so tight. And it worked. He stayed cool and calm in the run up to his clash with Mike Tyson in Louisville in July and he knocked out the Baddest Man on the Planet.
And so all week we have heard stories of Danny sitting in his room in that anonymous little white house on a Henderson estate laughing loud and long at the kung fu movies he loves.
When he broke off from the traditional staged nose-to-nose staring match with Klitschko after the final pre-fight press conference on Wednesday and started giggling, it seemed like a good sign. He had just tipped the scales at 19st 4lbs, meaning he will share the distinction of being the heaviest challenger for a world title fight with Primo Carnera and Jameel McCline.
\"I can\'t believe I\'ve tied the pair of them,\" Williams, 31, said. \"Maybe I should have had a bigger breakfast and then I could have been out there on my own. It was always our plan to come in heavy. I\'m five pounds heavier than I was against Tyson and that means I\'m five pounds stronger.
\"People were always telling me what weight they thought I should be but I\'ve stopped listening to them. I\'m fighting at the weight I feel good at for knocking people out.\"
Klitschko looked in good shape, too. He has appeared quietly confident all week, refusing to respond to the taunts Williams and McDonnell have aimed at his integrity and his courage.
He is a solid, stolid champion with an awkward style verging on the robotic. But he ended Lewis\'s career and no one has ever put him down. Williams will have to get past a stiff jab to cause him any discomfort. He will have to get inside. He will have to work hard round after round after round.
\"That\'s what Danny\'s going to have to do,\" said McDonnell.
\"It\'s about how a small guy can put pressure on the bigger guys. I\'ve told him it\'s kill or be killed out there.
\"That\'s the attitude he has. No mercy. War. He is up for this fight like I have never seen before. The pace he is going to fight at, he will be able to maintain it for 12 rounds. Klitschko hits the wall at about six rounds and then he will fall off it.\"
Most observers still expect Klitschko to win after six or seven rounds. Maybe I\'m letting my heart rule my head but I take Williams to win in nine.
Mirror - Oliver Holt Chief Sports Writer Reports From Vegas
SHE has been here at a hotel on The Strip for a week now but in the nicest possible way, Danny Williams\' girlfriend has hardly been welcomed with open arms.
For a start, Williams wouldn\'t allow long-time partner Zoe or their kids to visit the house he has shared for more than two months with trainer Jimmy McDonnell in the nearby suburb of Henderson.
As tonight\'s WBC world heavyweight title showdown with Vitali Klitschko grew near, he even forbade her from phoning him. She could text. But that was it.
Williams said it would soften him to talk to Zoe. He said it would soothe him. And he didn\'t want to be soothed. Not yet.
\"Being away from my family helps to make me the person I need to be when I walk into the ring tomorrow night,\" Williams said yesterday. \"That person\'s a vicious person.
\"People say I have not had enough devil in my work in the past and that\'s because I\'ve been around my family too much before a fight. Not this time.\"
The enforced separation is just part of the desperate attempts he and McDonnell and promoter allegedly have been making to manage his fragile mind as the biggest night of his life approaches.
This is Danny\'s chance. Probably his only chance. His only shot at the title. His opportunity to complete what would be a quite astonishing reversal of fortune.
What a story it would be. Sweet redemption for a man whose career was on the skids less than 12 months ago and joy for those of us who have long known Williams is one of the most genuine and amiable men in sport anywhere.
The deeply religious Williams has the potential to cause the biggest upset in the heavyweight division since Hasim Rahman beat Lennox Lewis in South Africa in April 2001.
But unless his mind is right, it won\'t happen. Because it was his mind that let him down in the past. Not in terms of intelligence. But temperament. He allowed tension to defeat him and strangle his career.
It was so bad sometimes that it paralysed him. Left him mentally exhausted before he even climbed through the ropes. So bad it made him weep in the street the day before a fight. So bad it made him lose fights he should have won with one hand. Like against Michael Sprott in January.
So bad that after losing to Sprott, he decided he had to change. He had to relax. He had to stop winding himself so tight. And it worked. He stayed cool and calm in the run up to his clash with Mike Tyson in Louisville in July and he knocked out the Baddest Man on the Planet.
And so all week we have heard stories of Danny sitting in his room in that anonymous little white house on a Henderson estate laughing loud and long at the kung fu movies he loves.
When he broke off from the traditional staged nose-to-nose staring match with Klitschko after the final pre-fight press conference on Wednesday and started giggling, it seemed like a good sign. He had just tipped the scales at 19st 4lbs, meaning he will share the distinction of being the heaviest challenger for a world title fight with Primo Carnera and Jameel McCline.
\"I can\'t believe I\'ve tied the pair of them,\" Williams, 31, said. \"Maybe I should have had a bigger breakfast and then I could have been out there on my own. It was always our plan to come in heavy. I\'m five pounds heavier than I was against Tyson and that means I\'m five pounds stronger.
\"People were always telling me what weight they thought I should be but I\'ve stopped listening to them. I\'m fighting at the weight I feel good at for knocking people out.\"
Klitschko looked in good shape, too. He has appeared quietly confident all week, refusing to respond to the taunts Williams and McDonnell have aimed at his integrity and his courage.
He is a solid, stolid champion with an awkward style verging on the robotic. But he ended Lewis\'s career and no one has ever put him down. Williams will have to get past a stiff jab to cause him any discomfort. He will have to get inside. He will have to work hard round after round after round.
\"That\'s what Danny\'s going to have to do,\" said McDonnell.
\"It\'s about how a small guy can put pressure on the bigger guys. I\'ve told him it\'s kill or be killed out there.
\"That\'s the attitude he has. No mercy. War. He is up for this fight like I have never seen before. The pace he is going to fight at, he will be able to maintain it for 12 rounds. Klitschko hits the wall at about six rounds and then he will fall off it.\"
Most observers still expect Klitschko to win after six or seven rounds. Maybe I\'m letting my heart rule my head but I take Williams to win in nine.
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MightyWarrior
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 13284
- Joined: 23 Jan 2003, 14:01