26.04.08 – Photo by P. Heintzelman / ESB – Hot cruiserweight prospect, “Awesome” Aaron Williams is ready, willing and able to meet newly crowned NABO champion Ola Afolabi on ESPN2, Friday, June 6th. The question is: Is Afolabi willing to meet the challenge of the undefeated, Las Vegas cruiserweight? According to Williams’ managers, the interest from the Afolabi camp is lukewarm, at best.
“Aaron is ready to go on ESPN2, June 6th, said co-manager, Albert Falcon. “We’ve been told that Afolabi and his camp don’t want anything to do with Aaron. This is a great fight for fans and ESPN and it needs to be made. Aaron is moving up the NABO ranks, he just KO’d the former NABO champ. If Afolabi is afraid to defend his belt, give it up, and let Aaron and another fighter who are willing to fight, battle for the belt..”
Williams’ needed less than two rounds to stop former NABO Champion, Andre Purlette (40-3), in an electrifying performance on ESPN2, June 4th.
In a big upset, last weekend, Ola Afolabi stopped undefeated, hot prospect, Eric Fields in the 10th round for the NABO Cruiserweight strap, thus derailing a much anticipated match-up between Fields and Williams.
“ESPN kept throwing Eric Fields’ name at us; that’s all we heard,” said co-manager, Patrick Doljanin. “We wanted that fight, but now we have a guy in Afolabi, who KO’d Fields, which in our minds, and to the fans, makes a very compelling, fight.”
“We want the NABO belt, Afolabi just happens to have it,” Doljanin added. “So defend your belt, Ola, or give it up. It’s a belt, not a teddy bear that you snuggle with when you go to bed at night. You have to defend it.”
“I understand why Dino Duva doesn’t want his fighter to be in the same ring as Aaron,” said Falcon, “but all we can do as a team is to try to make these fights happen.”
“If Dino and Afolabi don’t want to fight Aaron Williams, fine, we’ll have to move on. The fans can draw their own conclusions as to who is a hungry fighter and who is just acting like they want to be a fighter.”
Surprisingly, Eric Fields’ name was brought up, yet again, as an opponent for Williams, in spite of his KO loss last weekend. Fields, not surprisingly, turned down any match-up with Williams in the near future.
According to the Williams camp, B.J. Flores has also turned down a showdown with their young prospect. B.J. was ESPN 2’s in-studio analyst during Williams 2nd round TKO of Andre Purlette. “B.J. Flores is a guy that Eddie (Williams’ trainer/former WBA light heavyweight Champion, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad) wanted,” said co-manager Pat Doljanin.
“Eddie called me almost everyday, imploring me to make a fight with B.J. happen. I understand why BJ doesn’t want the fight and, if I was his manager, I would have said no, too. Maybe sometime in the future.”
“B.J. is a class act, a gentleman and a credit to the sport. We wish him all the best,” added Doljanin.
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