The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Williams ready to defend title on Aug. 26
NEW HAVEN » There’s a fight going down on Saturday, Aug. 26. Perhaps you’ve heard about it. Little tassle between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
But while that may be the biggest boxing event — heck, sporting event — in the world that night, there’s another fight going on that holds a lot more importance for local fans.
A couple of hours before Mayweather-McGregor is slated to begin, West Haven’s Jimmy Williams, the reigning WBC USNBC welterweight champion, will take on Issouf Kinda in a 10-round main event at Foxwoods Casino’s Premier Ballroom. It will be Williams’ first defense of the title he won with a unanimous decision over Nick DeLomba on April 7 in Rhode Island.
“I train real hard, I know I’m a champion, and I know everybody wants to take what’s mine, what I’ve worked hard for,” Williams said at a press conference on Tuesday at Powerhouse Gym. “I know where I came from. Nobody’s gonna take this. I’m gonna show on the 26th why I’m undefeated and why I’ve got the belt.”
Williams, a former Southern Connecticut State football player who is currently a truant officer at West Haven High, enters the bout at 13-0-1 with five knockouts. Kinda, a veteran from the Bronx, checks in at 18-4 with seven KOs.
“He’s a warrior, just like myself,” Williams said of his opponent. “He didn’t come to lose, he came to take whatever’s mine. He knows if he beats me, it puts him back on a roll. He’s gonna be in great shape. I’m just ready to go ahead and make the right adjustments and go out and win this fight, some way, somehow. I know it’s not gonna be a walk in the park, but at this level I’m at now, no fight’s gonna be a walk in the park.”
Both fighters were respectful of each other yet confident at Tuesday’s presser. Williams also became emotional at one point, when it was announced that he will be dedicating the fight to the memory of Ben Callahan, the 10-year-old son of David Callahan, who trains with Williams at Shoreline Athletics in Branford. Ben died in a drowing accident on July 7.
“It means a lot to me,” said Williams, who lost his mother Belinda, to a still-unsolved murder nearly nine years ago. “I’m just honored to be in a position to dedicate this fight to the family, to Ben Callahan. I’ve known him for a couple of years now. Great kid.
kid. You see the faith of his family, I’m ready to go out here and be a warrior for myself and show that I’ll fight for anybody that’s lost somebody.”
While scheduling the bout on the same night as Mayweather-McGregor may at first seem like a mistake, it was actually done completely on purpose. All fans with tickets to the fight receive free entry to the Mayweather-McGregor payper-view broadcast next door at the Grand Theater on a closed-circuit television. Williams’ fight likely won’t start until around 9:30 p.m. and should be done by 11 p.m. Mayweather-McGregor won’t start before midnight.
“It’s a positive,” said Williams’ manager, Carmen Romano. “It’s definitely gonna help out the fight. That’s the biggest fight going on right now in the world, Mayweather-McGregor. It’ll bring fans in that maybe weren’t looking to go see Jimmy’s fight, say ‘OK, I can get two tickets for the one.’ I think it’ll draw on both ends. Some people that are seeing Jimmy’s fight get to see Mayweather, too. They would’ve come out anyway to see Jimmy. Now, they’re gonna see both.”
Added Williams: “I think it’s definitely going to bring more people in, more attention. It’s a chance for people to see the future, a welterweight champion, and then they see a legend. I’m just honored to be fighting for my hometown at Foxwoods. I’m excited for the whole event.”
And who does Williams predict to win Mayweather-McGregor?
“Oh Mayweather, easy,” he said. “He’s undefeated for a reason. He’s fighting McGregor for money. It’s a business. But at the end of the day, he wants to be 50-0. I respect him. He’s a businessman, one of the best businessmen ever in the sport of boxing. I know he’s gonna become 50-0.”
Jimmy Williams hopes two fighters remain undefeated that night.