Heavyweight road warrior Sherman “Tank” Williams, a Bahamian sports legend, will travel halfway around the world to challenge WBO Asia Pacific and WBC Asian Boxing Council Champion Chauncy “Hillyard Hammer” Welliver on June 28 in Macau, China.
Williams (34-11-2, 19 KOs) hasn’t fought in 1 ½ years, since he was involved in a highly-controversial “no contest” with Evander Holyfield for the World Boxing Federation title, at The Greenbrier in White Sulpher Springs, West Virginia.
“I’m looking for a break,” Williams said about his fight with Welliver (53-5-5, 20 KOs). “I’m not discouraged. I’ll be coming to fight like I always do. I’ve been sitting on the bench, training in the gym, and I couldn’t wait to fight. This is an important fight for me. I don’t know too much about Welliver other than he’s had a lot of fights. The only two guys he’s fought I’m familiar with are David Bostice and Bert Cooper in his last fight. He has a lot of experience and I’m sure he coming in top shape to fight. I have a lot of experience, against better opponents, and I’m sure that he’s never fought anybody like Sherman ‘Tank’ Williams. A lot of his fights have gone the distance, so he better put on his track shoes. I should be able to go over there and take him into the ocean. It’s going to be a helluva fight.
“Everybody knows I was robbed against Holyfield. I studied his fights tricks and tactics and noticed that he didn’t like to be roughed up or hit to the body. He was open for overhand rights and left hooks. I followed the game plan and was on the verge of upsetting Holyfield and shocking the world. The referee was in over his head and never should have been working a big fight like that. Holyfield was cut over the eye in the second round but the referee didn’t say anything about a head-butt – the rules state that he had to after the second round – until after the fight was over. He was confused and negotiated with Holyfield’s corner. He ruled it a no contest draw, but there’s no such thing as a no contest draw. I was robbed, shattered and hurt.”
Holyfield said in a post fight interview on the pay-per-view broadcast that he would give Williams a rematch in the Bahamas but it never happened. “We negotiated between March and September but no numbers we discussed were suitable for Holyfield,” Williams explained. “Hey, I’m Bahamian and Caribbean people are tough skinned. I refuse to lose or let anybody take me down. The Holyfield fight really hurt my career. I had been on a pretty good roll, winning my last 10 of 11, but I had been out of action 16 months from a car accident in 2009. Holyfield’s team picked me as an opponent because I’d been inactive for so long. He would have been knocked out if he came out for another round and that’s why he wouldn’t fight me again. That unfortunate injustice really hurt me and my family.”
“Sherman is a strong guy who has been avoided by top heavyweights,” Williams’ manager Si Stern commented. “They’ve come up with every reason not to fight him. Sherman has a good record and he’s a super nice guy, too. We’re hoping that this fight is the start of something good for him.”
The Holyfield win he should have had in West Virginia most likely would have gotten “Tank” a world rating or close to it. Without that victory or an opportunity for a rematch, Williams was unable to secure a significant fight, and he went back to serving as a sparring partner for the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, and others.
Williams continues to chase his dream to fight for a world championship. He can position himself closer to his goal by impressively defeating Welliver, who is ranked No. 6 by the WBC and No. 8 by the WBO.
“I’d like a shot at the Klitschkos or Povetkin,” Williams concluded. “I tried to fight the British heavyweights – Haye, Chisora or Fury – but those guys just like to talk about how good they are. They aren’t interested in fighting a tough guy like me. I wish heavyweights today were like Ali and Foreman, who fought everybody, including the absolute best of their era. My opportunities have been too few and far between. I haven’t been out the past 1 ½ years by design. Over the years, I’ve been a true road warrior, fighting who and where I had to, suffering some losses because of that. I’m going to Macau and I plan to take Welliver’s belts back to the Bahamas and United States.”
