BoxRec

ILikeBeer wrote: You have a point there. What with Danny being touted as getting a shot at *sigh* the heavyweight title, there is no way they'll let him lose on points.

states wrote:Revenge or Refund, more like. At least that's what I'd be asking for.

Anyone else think Danny is the 21st century Tyson? 'If he could just come in lighter/mentally prepared/blah blah blah'.

He's fat, it just ain't happening.

states wrote:Revenge or Refund, more like. At least that's what I'd be asking for.

Anyone else think Danny is the 21st century Tyson? 'If he could just come in lighter/mentally prepared/blah blah blah'.

He's fat, it just ain't happening.

HairyBoxe24 wrote:
Cant understand the people who say they're not intrested about this fight,heavyweight is far more intresting to watch then anyother weight

E wrote:Danny is training in an oxygen tank for this one!

HairyBoxe24 wrote:Think Danny will win this,and easier then he did last time maybe a late stoppage.If danny knows whats good for him he will come in under 260.
Skeltons way to predictable and his confidence must be down a bit after losin the first fight.

Cant understand the people who say they're not intrested about this fight,heavyweight is far more intresting to watch then anyother weight and these two make a good fight.

ILikeBeer wrote:

HairyBoxe24 wrote:
Cant understand the people who say they're not intrested about this fight,heavyweight is far more intresting to watch then anyother weight

Do you know anything about boxing?

Heavyweight Danny Williams raised eyebrows two weeks ago with the revelation that he'd spent two months training and actually sleeping in a CAT low oxygen tent, designed to replicate the high-altitudes associated with improving cardiovascular performance. Proclaiming that he'd brought boxing training into the 21st century Williams's trainer Jim McDonnell told SecondsOut that it was now 'impossible' for his Commonwealth Champion to tire.

Matt Skelton, whom Williams rematches with this Saturday, shrugged his shoulders upon hearing about Williams's o2 tents and scientific supplements. The former British Champion told his local paper: "If he has to go to those lengths he obviously doesn't have confidence (in himself)."

But now, with the Cardiff collision just days away, Team Williams have warned Skelton that they've not based their entire training camp on gadgetry, but have also incorporated tried and tested techniques first employed by two legendary power-punchers, to improve Danny's hitting power.

"We've got hi-tec in this camp but at the same time we've also gone 'old school," Williams told SecondsOut. "Last year I met Ernie Shavers and we've become friends and he's given me some wicked tips on improving my punch power. I've added everything he's advised me on to my training programme. One of the things I did what Ernie swore by was getting a huge truck tyre and hitting it over and over for half an hour or more with a sledge-hammer.

"Everyone knows Oscar De La Hoya chops trees to improve his punching power and hitting the tyre is exactly the same thing. I bought a tyre for my garden and just used it to work out. It most definitely works, because by the time I started camp Jimmy said 'Dan, you are hitting harder, what have you been doing?'."

Williams met former world heavyweight title challenger Shavers - almost universally considered the hardest hitting fighter to ever lace the gloves - in Birmingham at an autograph signing expo. American born Shavers, now 60, has resided in Liverpool for the last several years after marrying a native. He is a regular on the UK after-dinner circuit, where he is always introduced as the man who not only Muhammad Ali but also Larry Holmes said was most destructive puncher they'd ever encountered.

Shavers could always whack. When he first walked into a gym on January 3, 1967 in Youngstown, Ohio, the head trainer (former Olympic coach Pedro Tomez) was so excited by the 22-year-old's power that he pitched Shavers in an amateur bout just a fortnight later. Shavers won by a first round KO and a fearsome rep for punching began.

But Shavers said it took another legendary power-puncher to truly turn his fists into weapons of mass destruction.

"Archie Moore showed all his old tricks to me when he trained me," Shavers began. "He got me chopping trees to improve my explosive power in my legs, back, shoulders and arms which are all places where punching power comes from. And when we trained where there were no trees to chop he brought in huge truck tyres and got me hitting them with a sledge-hammer over and over.

"I chopped trees or hit the tyres before every single fight. Archie was the hardest hitting light heavyweight who ever lived and so he knew exactly what he was talking about."

Indeed, the 'Old Mongoose' Moore, the great light heavyweight champion of the 1950s, set a record of 141 knockouts which will stand forever. He was as great an innovator in the gym as he was in the ring.

"Archie invented a way of measuring my punch power," Shavers said. "He (modified) some weight measuring device and put it on a punch bag and he used it to measure my punches. I can't remember exactly what (figures) he told me but I know he told me that after six weeks of hitting the tyre with the sledgehammer I was hitting just under 25% harder with my right hand."

And looking ahead to seeing his friend Williams fight this weekend, Shavers believes the Briton's right cross will be the shot doing all the damage in Cardiff.

Shavers said: "Danny's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He's so well-spoken and polite I couldn't believe he was a fighter! But after I met him we exchanged DVDs and videos (of each other's fights) and I think he can go all the way and win the (heavyweight world) title."

A two-time world heavyweight title challenger - but one unlucky enough to have Ali and Holmes as contemporaries - Shavers believes there is currently no-one in the division who can stop Williams (at least, not with Vitali Klitschko, who stopped Danny in December 2004, now retired) from achieving his ambition.

"I was very impressed with Danny's fight with Skelton, " the man once known as 'the Black Destroyer' said. "I thought he won that fight (which took place in February and Williams won on a close decision) could have even won by KO in the last round. Skelton was hurt badly.

"It wasn't a pretty fight with the (rough tactics). But this time Danny needs to set Skelton up more in this second fight. He should throw his punches at less than full power for a while like I used to. Don't load up at all in the first few rounds, just throw the shots and ease into things. Let Skelton think about other things rather than power-punches and then - WHACK! - hit him with the big right hand.

"If Danny sets Skelton up in the first three rounds with his jab and then goes in with the power after three rounds he can knock Skelton out in five, sixth rounds. I hope he takes his time, doesn't get too excited at the start, because he can stop this guy and really send a message to the (division)."

"That," Williams said when I relayed the message, "is exactly what I will do. Only Skelton will be gone in four rounds, not five."

HairyBoxe24 wrote:

ILikeBeer wrote:

HairyBoxe24 wrote:
Cant understand the people who say they're not intrested about this fight,heavyweight is far more intresting to watch then anyother weight

Do you know anything about boxing?

How can my opinion of heavyweight bein the best weight be wrong?

nickd wrote:Shock horror Danny Williams is better than ever in the gym. God knows why they bother with all this rubbish every time he fights! ;)

nickd wrote:Shock horror Danny Williams is better than ever in the gym. God knows why they bother with all this rubbish every time he fights! ;)

ILikeBeer wrote:

nickd wrote:Shock horror Danny Williams is better than ever in the gym. God knows why they bother with all this rubbish every time he fights! ;)

It's a marketing thing to get people to buy tickets, and watch the fights. The same way Danny kept saying; "I wasn't at my best tonight" when he had put in another pathetic performance. Goodness knows why they expect people to believe it though.

nickd wrote:

ILikeBeer wrote:

nickd wrote:Shock horror Danny Williams is better than ever in the gym. God knows why they bother with all this rubbish every time he fights! ;)

It's a marketing thing to get people to buy tickets, and watch the fights. The same way Danny kept saying; "I wasn't at my best tonight" when he had put in another pathetic performance. Goodness knows why they expect people to believe it though.

Do they really believe it themselves? Makes me wonder. Williams is a big fat letdown no more no less!

TheGoods wrote:Anyone know who will be in charge of this fight? I agree that the referee will be crucial. Also agree that so much depends on what Williams' scales in at. I spoke to him before the Audley Harrison fight and he was saying he had never had a better camp etc. Turns out Jimmy Mac hadn't even been training him! Suffice to say, don't believe the hype.