 Danny Williams-Gap Rating 5/10 Is an English professional heavyweight boxer and current Commonwealth champion. Williams' trainer is Jimmy McDonnell and his manager is Frank Warren, who is arguably one of Europes' most important boxing managers. Williams' most notable fight was on July 31st 2004, at the Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, when he knocked out (a far past prime) Mike Tyson in the fourth round. On December 11th 2004, he lost to WBC world heavyweight champion Vitall Klitschko in a world title bout, by an eighth round knockout.In July 2005, Williams failed to show up for his scheduled British heavyweight championship fight against Matt Skelton. Promoter Frank Warren commented that Williams "had lost his bottle" and should retire. Williams cited ill health. Redemption of sorts came when he beat Audley Harrison in a split decision for the Commonwealth heavyweight title on December 10th 2005. Harrison and Williams have long enjoyed a war of words in the media since the former turned pro. For Williams, the win restores his standing somewhat. It may well dash the hopes of Harrison winning a serious pro title however Williams is a follower of Islam. Williams was part of an angle that nearly got out of hand, in British professional wrestling promotion Frontier Wrestling Alliance. It started when FWA star and company head Alex Shane informed the crowd that Danny's agent had banned him from taking part in any sort of wrestling angle in the company, Alex Shane then claimed he was going to grab as much publicity as he could and began to insult Danny and his entourage. Williams genuinely appeared to lose his cool when, as he walked away, Shane called him "gay boy" and spat at his teenage brother-in-law, inciting a pull-apart brawl. The fracas, that nearly ended up in disaster at the FWA show, made it to the Daily Mirror newspaper and national news programmes. Most recently, on February 25th 2006 Danny beat Matt Skelton on a split decision at the ExCel Arena. Many onlookers, thought Matt Skelton had won but Danny prevailed on points. This was a controversial fight. After the fight Williams said that he now wanted a world title fight; this will probably be against Nikolay Valuev. However Frank Williams has stated that this cannot be arranged until October 2006 and as a result another fight between Williams and Skelton has been arranged for 15 July 2006. The winner of this fight should go on to challenge for a world title. Most recent fight: 25th February, 2006 - w. pts v. Matt Skelton, Commonwealth Heavyweight Title defence. Danny Williams has been named the number one contender to the European Heavyweight Crown |
