Boxing: Williams' recovery may bring chance of world-class test

Heavyweight boxers always have their power as a last resort when all else fails in the ring and on Saturday night Danny Williams salvaged his career with brute force.

Williams was losing after three completed rounds against Australia's Bob Mirovic. Then came the turning point in round four when he connected with an illegal low blow that clearly hurt the Australian. The referee allowed Mirovic less than a minute to recover but his fight was effectively over.

It took Williams about 10 seconds to connect with more than 20 punches that finally sent Mirovic, who weighed 18st 12lb, face-first to the canvas in the referee's arms. It was a sudden and disturbing ending to a fight that raised more questions about Williams than it answered.

Williams retained his Commonwealth heavyweight title, but there is a chance that he will relinquish both the Commonwealth and the British championships and finally, at 29, step into what passes for world class in the odd sport of boxing.

On Saturday night, at the Fountain Leisure Centre in Brentford, Williams was fighting to convince himself that he has a future in the sport that has dominated his life since he was 11 and there were moments until the final assault when it looked like Williams' next stop would be the Job Centre.

"I have no idea what goes wrong but something obviously does. I was fine in the changing-room, fine walking to the ring and I felt fine in the ring, but then when the bell went there was nothing in my punches," admitted Williams, who has, during the last eight years, developed into one of British boxing's most honest campaigners.

Williams has had to listen to the endless taunts from both Audley Harrison and the former British champion Herbie Hide, who has accused him of being a coward, a fat bum and an idiot during a series of outlandish and insulting interviews. Williams has not risen to the verbal bait and he may now turn his back on the witless duo and deny them a fight.

One plan that Williams is considering would entail him joining his new trainer, Hector Rocha, in New York and, it is hoped, getting a fight against one of the bigger names in a heavyweight division that is littered with the fallen hulks of former stars.

The list of potential opponents is endless, but Ray Mercer, Michael Moorer and Shannon Briggs, all of whom have held a version of the world heavyweight title during the last decade, are thought to be close to the top of it.

On Saturday night Harrison watched Williams win on the BBC and is thought to have contacted his promoter to confirm that he is ready and willing to fight Williams. However, a meeting between the two is unlikely to take place for six months or more.

At about the same time that Williams was rendering Mirovic unconscious another heavyweight from South London was going through the motions in Schwerin, Germany. Julius Francis was stopped in round seven of a bold but predictable attempt to beat Turkey's Sinan Samil Sam for the European heavyweight title.

Williams was stopped in six rounds by Samil Sam back in February in a fight that so very nearly ended his career. On Saturday night Francis was able to tuck up, fiddle and hold until late in round six when he started to look tired and the fight ended in round seven when Samil Sam connected once or twice to the ribs.

Francis had no regrets but he was keen to remind everybody that just three weeks ago he spent four days in hospital after a car crash because he had suffered a hairline fracture to his ribs.

He said: "The ribs I broke in the crash were OK, but I think he's broken the ribs on the other side." Francis once beat Williams, but his glory days are long gone and he will from now on be used as a measuring test for young heavyweights. But for Williams there should be at least one or two fights of substance in a future that his fists prolonged on Saturday night.