02.03.07 – By James Slater Tonight, at the Neath Sports Centre in Glamorgan, Wales, an astonishingly light Danny Williams proved his boxing career is not quite over yet. A crushing ninth round knockout over defending British heavyweight champ Scott Gammer saw the Brixton big man rejuvenated once again. Always seemingly able to blow both hot and cold, Danny boxed well tonight and now starts a new reign
as British champion.
Coming in at the shockingly light weight of only 228 pounds – this from a man who has weighed as much as 288 in the recent past – Williams started boxing aggressively immediately. In fact, both men put on a fine show and a clinch-free fight was witnessed by those in attendance. Gammer, himself weighing in at 239 pounds, used his fast hands to good effect in bursts and certainly won his share of rounds. Danny was carrying his left hand noticeably low, yet was also firing out sharp, head snapping jabs with it. Williams won the opener for me, while Gammer won the second. Scott put together some good combinations to both head and body well throughout the fight, particularly in the earlier rounds.
But it was Danny that had the obvious edge in punching power and experience. He used both to his advantage as the pace, which was a fast one from the outset, began to slow somewhat.
I gave Danny rounds three, five and six, while Scott, for me earned the fourth and eighth. While round seven was a very close session. The fight was engrossing all the way, with good counter work by Gammer, coupled with effective aggression from Williams. Scott boxed well enough on the back foot, but at times he was guilty of not doing enough. This occurred most
noticeably in the sixth round, where it seemed the thirty year old had perhaps ran out of ideas. Scott was hurt at the end of the seventh, by a hard right hand upstairs. But he came back well in the next three minutes, where he landed an especially sharp looking left uppercut to Danny’s chin. His punches in bunches really were effective for him and in this round Danny looked as though he might be tiring a touch.
The end came suddenly in the very next round, however, proving any such assertions to be false. Though beforehand some felt the need to worry due to the enormous amount of weight Williams had shed, no problems materialised for the thirty-three year old. His conditioning was indeed excellent. As was proven by the spectacular finishing touches he was able to put on the fight. Danny clubbed away with both hands right at the start of what turned out to be the last round of the evening and forced Scott to the ropes. Once his man was stuck there, Danny refused to stop crashing in blows until the desired effect was achieved. A final, huge right hand blasted Gammer high on the head and he hit the canvas. Bravely he tried to get up and carry on, but he was counted out as he was rising. The time was one minute and fifteen seconds of the ninth round, and Danny Williams rose from the ashes one more time with the victory.
Gammer is far from finished, of course, and neither is Williams. The most obvious question to pop up in the mind of this reporter though, based upon how well he fought tonight, is why on earth has Danny not boxed at this weight all the time? There may be yet more important wins for him in the future if he does so from now on.