Travelin’ man Williams ready to
conquer boxing on foreign soil

By Michael Parente

Others might disagree, but cruiserweight “Awesome” Aaron Williams doesn’t believe in the concept of home-field – or, in this case, home-ring – advantage in boxing.
“Wherever they put a ring should be your home,” Williams said.                                                     

With a conqueror’s mentality and the spirit of a soon-to-be champion, Williams is looking to plant the American flag firmly in German soil this weekend when he faces former Cuban champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez in a pivotal eight-round showdown at the famed Jako Arena in Bamberg.

At 19-1-1 with 13 knockouts, the 23-year-old Williams is on the verge of stardom in the cruiserweight division and this could be the fight that takes his career to the next level.

Though he was born in Cuba, Hernandez, 24, has fought each of his 19 professional fights in Germany and is 18-1 with 11 knockouts. The 6-foot-4 southpaw is ranked among the Top 15 in all the major sanctioning bodies and as high as ninth in the World Boxing Council (WBC).

Traveling overseas to fight – and, more importantly, defeat – a quality opponent will show the boxing world Williams isn’t afraid to risk his career by exchanging blows in a hostile environment.

“When you have a future champion, an amateur star and a talented fighter, you’re not afraid to go anywhere,” said Williams’ promoter, Jimmy Burchfield.

“Everything in boxing happens overseas. We need to go there and bring the fights back to the United States. Of course, there are risks, but, as they say, no risk, no reward. The only way to bring it back to the United States is to go there and win.”

Coming off back-to-back victories, Williams appears to have put his first – and only – professional loss to Jose Luis Herrera behind him and is ready to focus not only on beating Hernandez, but making himself a much more complete fighter in the process.

The loss to Herrera in May of 2008 exposed Williams’ lack of endurance. He knocked Herrera to the canvas in the opening round, but failed to finish him off. Once Herrera got his legs back later in the fight, he took advantage of Williams’ diminished stamina and turned the tables with a fifth-round knockout. Williams hit the ground twice in the fifth with the ringside doctor stopping the fight following the second knockdown.

“That was a learning experience,” Williams said. “I just realized I had to take everything more serious than I had been in the past. I looked at it like all the people who’ve been great have lost and they’ve always come back. I had never even lost in the amateurs, so this was something I’d never experienced before or been through. I’ve just got to come back strong.”

In preparation for his fight against Hernandez, Williams is back in his hometown of Las Vegas working with famed trainer
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, whom he’s been with for the past two-and-a-half years. Among the top priorities in camp is increasing Williams’ durability so he doesn’t run out of gas midway through the fight.

“He’s had a really good training camp,” said Williams’ manager, Pat Doljanin. “The last camp I went out to was prior to the Aaron Purlette fight (in April of 2008). He looked good in preparation for that fight and we all know how that turned out (with a second-round knockout victory). I saw a much-improved fighter and hopefully we’ll see an even more improved fighter on May 9.”

Muhammad also trains IBF and IBO light heavyweight champion “Bad” Chad Dawson, who is scheduled to face Antonio Tarver in a highly-anticipated rematch the same night Williams battles Hernandez. Dawson lives in Connecticut, but is training out West with Muhammad since his fight against Tarver is at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas. This has allowed Dawson and Williams to spar one another – an otherwise impromptu arrangement that’s been beneficial for both parties.
“They were jaw-jacking back and forth. It was a good sparring session and Aaron held his own, so he’s certainly in good spirits and he looks to be in great shape,” Doljanin said.

“The closest he can get to working model of Hernandez would be Chad – granted a little bit lighter, but same height, much better hands, much better speed and, quite frankly, a much better boxer (than Hernandez). That’s going to serve Aaron well, but he knows mentally he’s going over there in essence to get a knockout. He’s not going over there to get a decision. He’s going there to knock him out.”

Muhammad won’t be in Williams’ corner on May 9 since he’ll be with Dawson in Vegas, but that should have no bearing on the outcome of Williams’ fight. Since losing to Herrera, Williams is less apt to fall victim to outside distractions thanks to Muhammad’s influence. A former light heavyweight world champion during his heyday in the early-‘80s, Muhammad has imparted his own wisdom on Williams, teaching the young cruiserweight to be a fighter both in and outside the ring.
“He sharpened me up a lot and made me more aware of things to make me better,” Williams said. “He’s helped a lot correcting a lot of mistakes. Things are going real good. We’ve got a lot of chemistry.”

“He’s trained as if it’s the fight of his life,” Doljanin added. “In a lot of respects, it’s make-or-break showtime for him. He put the Herrera loss behind him. Quite frankly, he should’ve disposed of Herrera in the first round. That was obvious. Herrera got a little help from the ringside physician, but Aaron’s conditioning betrayed him because he ran out of gas and we all saw the results of that. I think he’s made the adjustments he’s needed to make. He knows Hernandez is no joke and he’s prepared as such.”

A victory would launch Williams’ career, possibly setting up a fight against a Top 10 opponent. Entering this fight against Hernandez, Williams is ranked fifth in the NABF and 11th in the NABO.

“I’ll fight anyone in the top 10,” Williams said. “I want to get to the top. That’s my dream – to be world champ. However long it takes, I want to be world champ.

“I just want to fight any guy willing to fight me. If everything is right, I’ll fight him – no one in particular, just anyone who wants to fight me. Top 10. Whatever. I just want to fight.”

Anybody, anytime, anywhere – that’s Williams’ mentality, even if that means fighting in someone else’s backyard.

“Once the bell rings all that goes out the window,” he said. “It’s just me and him anyway. That’s what it’s all about. It’s just me and the guy fighting. No one can get in the ring and help him.”