Dan Goossen’s Interesting Theory for The Punisher’s Loss

June 5th, 2008

By Scoop Malinowski

Promoter Dan Goossen has been around the top levels of the sport of boxing since 1982. He’s been around some great ones, such as Michael Nunn, James Toney, Floyd Mayweather, among others. So he knows his way around the business of boxing. Did Paul WIlliams unexpected WBO title loss to Carlos Quintana earlier this year douse Dan’s belief and faith in Paul Williams as a great fighter? Is Paul WIlliams still an excellent welterweight gladiator – just a tad misfortunate to run into a perfect performance from Mr. Quintana?

“Here’s what happens with life,” said Goossen yesterday. “A lot of times, a lot of athletes think that getting there is the toughest part. But it’s staying there. Paul’s always been a dedicated fighter, from the training aspect of it. But I believe Paul, and some great hockey players, some great baseball, football and basketball players, they all go kind of through the same thing. Sugar Ray Leonard did it. You win that title, even though you’re still working hard, you’ve lost a little of that edge. When you’re coming up you don’t lose that edge. You’re so hungry, you’re so intent at getting at that title, that if there’s a piece of cake in front of you, you know it’s not good for you, you’re gonna push it aside.

“But when you’re the champ sometimes you might say, Piece of cake is okay because I’m the champ and I’ll overcome it. It’s like, I’ve worked real hard today. When you’re the champ then that’s good enough. But when you’re the challenger, I’ve worked real hard today but I better work a little harder, okay? And you’re always pushing yourself for that next level. That’s a big reflection on the edge, the hunger, the mental aspect that you need. This is my interpretation of what happened.”

Sounds very plausible to me. After beating Margarito Paul WIlliams was, in a sense, a man without a new challenge to focus on, in his immediate sights. #1 Mayweather was on the mountain top but Williams knew that fight would never happen because Floyd would never ever accept such a risky fight and Al Haymon would never even try to talk Floyd into it. So WIlliams was in a kind of limbo as new WBO champ, fight the contenders, but wait who knows how long till the really, really big fight opportunity presented itself. Williams may have lost that little but of steam. Enough steam to explain the out of “rhythm” performance vs. Quintana.

Goossen continued: “And not that Paul cut any corners or anything. But you lose a little edge mentally because you think everything is okay. It could hurt you and have an effect on you inside the ring. We captured that. And you realize now it’s possible, you’re better prepared now, never lose that edge again. So if you do, you can lose. Sugar Ray Leonard when he fought Duran. I don’t want to say he lost his edge but he lost the fight. You saw what he did the next time that he got with Duran. He turned the tables on him.

“And what’s amazing is that there’s very few champions that have been successful in rematches – Leonard being one of the only ones in the last 30 years. I mean, Vernon wasn’t with Mayorga, Mosley wasn’t with Vernon. Jermain with Pavlik. Holmes with Spinks. It goes on and on. The point of it is – I expect some history to be made Saturday night. And based upon that I believe Paul will recapture everything that we felt he had, and just be better for it moving forward. Just the same as Sugar Ray Leonard was after losing to Duran. Interesting concept right?”

Sure is. Adds an extra dose of intrigue to a fantastic fight that is already intriguing to begin with.

I had the chance to talk to Paul Williams and when asked who is the best boxer in the sport today, Paul replied without hesitation, “Paul Williams.” When I commented that he’s not buying the hype of Mayweather, Paul said, “No sir. I ain’t buying the hype on nobody but myself.”

So the pound-for-pound best is not Floyd? “I let the fans think about that. I’m not a person that gets into that. But, you know, if you’re the best, you fight the best. That’s how I feel. ”

Floyd isn’t doing that. “No sir.”

About the rematch with Quintana, Paul said, “I had an off night. I just want to get in the ring and get my title back.”