By: Danny Serratelli

Junior-middleweight Paul Williams squeaked out a 12-round majority decision over Erislandy Lara at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Ballroom Saturday night.

Despite the fact that Lara was the slicker boxer and the sharper puncher, it was Williams who was the constant aggressor and the busier fighter. Lara followed the Sergio Martinez game plan and landed big lefts throughout the fight. However, despite a lot of clean power punches landed, Lara was unable to really hurt the determined Williams.

Judges Don Givens (116-114) and Hilton Whitaker II (115-114) had Williams, 40-2, 28 KO’s winning the bout by a slight margin. Al Bennett scored it even at 114-114.

Williams gave all he had, but did not look like the Paul Williams everyone has seen over the years. “He was a tough customer,” Williams said of Lara. “He came to fight. He caught me with some potshots, but I kept hitting him to the body and those add up.”