By James Slater – Fight fans are still trying to come to terms with the awful news that broke yesterday, which informed us how former two-time welterweight ruler and current top-ten contender Paul Williams had been left paralysed from the waist down after suffering a nasty motorbike crash. The 30-year-old ring warrior, in hospital awaiting Wednesday’s spinal surgery, is not in any way shape or form feeling sorry for himself, however.
According to his career-long trainer, father figure George Peterson, Paul is upbeat, smiling and joking and he is even vowing to fight again..
“From the waist down, he has absolutely no movement,” Peterson said as quoted by Mail online. “He’s in very good spirits, though. He still believes he’s going to fight again. I know he’s going to make a statement after surgery on Wednesday, because he’s that kind of person. He’s 100-percent coherent and he still wants to get back on that motorcycle.”
Really, we should not be surprised by the grit and determination the exceptionally strong-minded Williams is currently showing. An utterly fearless fighter who was always willing, no, desperate, to take on the best, “The Punisher” has a heart as big as that of any fighter you care to mention. Battling the likes of Antonio Margarito, Sergio Gabriel Martinez (twice), Winky Wright and others, Williams always, always gave his all. Now he is doing the same thing, with his efforts fully focused on regaining his health.
Peterson says his fighter does not want to hear what the doctors are saying with regards to his never walking again.
“I want to think along with him, ’cause I’ve seen him do things in his boxing career that shouldn’t have happened,” said an equally defiant Peterson.
Naturally, we are all hoping Paul CAN defy the odds and make a full recovery, and the former three-time champ says he is grateful for all the prayers and words of support. If anyone can do it, Williams can!
“He said if he wasn’t going to be boxing [again], he’s going to become a stand-up comedian,” Peterson said of his fighter.
It’s tough to keep a great man down, and Paul Williams is sure proving that right now.