A thrilling night at the Orange County Fairgrounds saw a sold-out crowd waiting for Los Angeles born undefeated welterweight boxer (13-0 12 KO’s) Terrel “Tyger” Williams to square off against seasoned veteran John Williams (15-3-1 6 KO’s).
Terrel stated before the fight that he was ready to improve his record to 14-0.
“I’m ready to win at all costs and I know that I have all the tools in my arsenal to do so,” he said.
Six of his twelve knockouts have come in the first round and he utilizes an efficient, no nonsense, boxing style that has served him well throughout his fight career. Taller than the average welterweight, the 6’1” Williams maintains a height and reach advantage over smaller opponents making it difficult for them to land powerful shots. Throughout the fight, Williams proved to be too precise, too savvy, and too fast for John Williams, throwing multiple counter hooks in the early rounds to fend off the straight right hand that John was throwing frequently. John was able to throw a sneaky right hand that slipped between the guard of Williams and adjusted very well to fighting style throughout the fight.
“My opponent had a very good chin. I was hitting him with some very good shots, and he wasn’t laying down at all,” Williams.
Though John was able to adjust to William’s onslaught of blows, John did find himself on the ropes and in trouble in several rounds and was ultimately unable to withstand his opponent’s overall Aggression, Ring Generalship, Defense, and accurate punches. Going the full 8-round distance, the fight was unanimously scored 79-73 79-73 77-75 in favor of Williams.
“My only worry before the fight was not to get cut or bruised because my son’s first birthday party is tomorrow,” he said.
His confidence and fighting style originated from his days as an 8 year old amateur boxer at the Denker Park Recreation center in South Los Angeles.
Following in the footsteps of his older brother and former decorated Jr. Middleweight champion Dwain (also “Tyger”) Williams, Williams took up the sport of boxing with the guidance of California Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Andy (The Hawk) Price Williams racked up an impressive amateur record of 70-5. After taking some time off from boxing to support himself and experience other aspects of life, Williams returned to the ring in 2008 at the age of 24 and made his professional debut, winning a 4 round unanimous decision. Since then, Williams has flourished, crafting an exciting 12 fight knockout streak that ended on Thursday when John Williams was able to go toe to toe with Williams for 8 rounds and withstand blows that previous opponents would not have been able to deal with. Willaims even acknowledged the fact that his opponent came ready to fight.” I learned more in this fight than in any of my other professional fights.” Although there was a moment in the 5 th round where everyone thought his opponent would fold, he was ultimately saved by the bell. Williams remembers that moment clearly and said “If there were just 10 more seconds in the round I felt like the fight would have been stopped by either the ref or by me landing a big shot.” Even though Williams did not get the knockout he is definitely happy to get the unanimous decision win and immediately after the fight it was all smiles and jokes as big brother Dwain gave his take on his little borther’s boxing career noting that “boxing is a tough sport, and not a sport you can really retire from. But I know Terrel will become a champion soon because he is determined and I am very proud of him,” he said.
As the night concluded and the weekend begins, Williams is now celebrating a different occasion, his son Terrel Tyger Williams Jr.’s 1 st birthday party. Clearly enjoying the moment with his firstborn and his wife of 3 years, Ashley, he is relaxed, yet already looking towards his next bout scheduled in September.
