Bahamian professional boxer Sherman ‘The Tank’ Williams will be back in the ring come June 28 and it is an event he is looking forward to.
Williams has a little over a month to prepare to face ‘big man’ Chauncy Welliver for a double title, the Asian-Pacific championships.
In a telephone interview with The Freeport News yesterday (Sunday, May 20), Williams said that since his last ring appearance he has been keeping in shape.
“I have been in the gym … I was scheduled for two fights earlier this year, unfortunately one was postponed and this one came up so we took this one,” he explained.
Williams said that meeting and defeating Welliver in the ring will give him the WBO and WBC heavyweight titles.
Having not been in competition for a few months, Williams said that he feels good about the upcoming bout.
“I feel good. I’m in pretty good shape already, despite my last fight being canceled. As a professional I have to stay in the gym and that’s what I’ve been doing,” he added.
Williams noted that he has been traveling a lot between Austria and Europe, “so I’m constantly in the gym, and now with the contract signed and China looming this gives me extra motiviation to work on the technical aspect of my boxing.”
He admits that with Welliver, his work is cut out for him.
“However, I am going to China for one reason and one reason alone,”?Williams assured, “and that is to win both of those titles.”
Describing his opponent as six-foot-three-inches, Williams said that Welliver is the more experienced fighter.
Welliver’s record stands at 63 – 53 wins, 20 coming by way of KOs (knock-outs); five losses (one in which he was KO’d) and five draws.
Like Williams, Welliver’s stance is orthodox.
Welliver has, in total fought 369 rounds in his professional career and has a 31.75 knock-out percentage.
Williams on the other hand boasts of a 39.58 knock-out percentage; however, his number of professional rounds fought totals 258.
Being the shorter and less experienced of the two, Williams admits, “basically I am going to have to train really hard for this match, to pick up on my inside fighting. So bascially for the next five weeks I’ll just be concentrating on body shots, with focus on the over hand right and left hook.”
He noted that with Welliver being over six-feet, “I almost never miss with the over-hand right.”
Williams recalled that the over-hand right was his winning attack strategy used on Evander Holyfield back in January 2011.
That bout ended in controversy, which eventually led to the bout decision being handed to Williams.
“Now I am going to finish what I started with Holyfield in the ring against Welliver,” said Williams.
The Grand Bahama born boxer said that he is not only going into China to win the titles, but also to promote Grand Bahama.
“My team is ensuring that my boxing outfit promotes Grand Bahama … this is our marketing strategy to garner interest for Grand Bahama in China and see what we can do to boost this economy.”
Williams and Welliver are scheduled to fight on Thursday, June 28 in Macau, China.
By Barbara Walkin
The Freeport News
