Yesterday, a press conference was held in Los Angeles, California to announce the Jr. Middleweight fight between multi-division champion Paul "The Punisher" Williams (38-1, 27 KO) and former welterweight champion Kermit "The Killer" Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KO). Kind words were exchanged between promoter Dan Goossen, Williams, and Cintron, but when the talk turned to the rest of the welterweight division, who's been reluctant to step into the ring with either fighter, both Goossen and Williams opted to single out Manny Pacquiao as their eventual target.
Goossen showered praise on Pacquiao early in his speech, comparing his accomplishments to the great Henry Armstrong. "As we progressed, we realized the 147-pound division was going to be something that eventually would fall into place. Until then, we'd have to go out and become a star on our own and do it in different divisions. Which, as you know, there's only one current fighter [Manny Pacquiao] today that has done that and you can see how many years it took him to get to where he finally got to," he remarked. "But people do recognize it; the fans recognize it, and they understand what they're giving up when a fighter does that. The last one before Manny Pacquiao and Paul Williams was Henry Armstrong, and it is something that only the greats can do."
After Cintron spoke, however, Goossen took the microphone and called out the legitimacy of the top welterweights, most notably, the same man he was praising, Manny Pacquiao. "How is a Pacquiao, who's going to probably come up lower than Paul's bellybutton, how is he going to get in the ring with Paul Williams?' I'd just like to see them say of the three or four welterweights that are out there, that they're the best other than Paul Williams," he added.
Williams then took an indirect shot at Pacquiao, saying, "Most people don't want to see one guy doing all the punching and stuff and one guy blocking. Most people don't want to see that; they want to see an even fight."
Goossen made it clear that he expects Williams to be one of boxing's biggest stars in the near future. With the bad blood between Dan Goossen and Bob Arum, which boiled over after Kelly Pavlik's withdrawal from his fight with Williams last November, a fruitful negotiation for a fight between Pacquiao and Williams would seem unlikely. Should Williams exceed the expectations of his promoter, Manny Pacquiao may be drawn to Williams, but only if he and trainer Freddie Roach are willing to look past Williams' nearly seven inch height advantage.