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Williams Plans to Drop The Bomb
By Jesse Kelley
January 21st, 2010

 

Phil "The Drill" Williams (14-2) will travel to the Windy City to meet fellow knockout artist Donovan "Da Bomb" George on January 29th, 2010. Williams is coming off a split decision loss to Matt Vanda last November in a bout he feels went to the wrong man. Despite the outcome, Williams believes his performance was a moral victory that put to rest any doubts that he would have trouble going the full 10 rounds. Now standing in Williams' way will be one of Chicago's top prospects in the undefeated George. Willams talked about the Vanda fight, his thoughts on Donovan George and more...

You surprised almost everybody watching you and Vanda by boxing him rather then going after him with your big punches early. Can you talk about the decision to box instead of brawl?
Everybody else had the plan that I was going to go in there and knock him out. So I went in there knowing I could box. I went in there to box behind my jab. Looking back I feel like I probably should have thrown some more power punches but that is what everybody is used to. I wanted to show everybody that I could box ten rounds without getting tired. If you listen to the commentators, (Anthony) Bonsante kept saying that if the fight went on, I was going to get tired. But if you go back and watch the fight, you will see that I actually was getting stronger and gaining momentum as the fight went on. Vanda was the one that actually tired out, he is the one that lost his legs.
I thought I won the fight. I thought I boxed right. I know they wanted to see more power from me, but I boxed. Vanda never landed a clean combination on me the whole fight.

So you feel like he was coming forward, throwing punches but that they weren't landing?
Yeah, he wasn't landing anything. If you watch the replay, you will see that the commentators say one thing, but the fight shows another. They would start screaming "Look at this, Vanda is coming back with a flurry of punches"! But none of them even landed! He landed some single punches when I was going back or whatever. I mean come on, it is a 10 round fight, you are going to land punches but he never landed one of those combinations. You know, they never even mentioned the fact that my jab was landing hard whenever I threw it. I am jabbing his head off and they are comparing Vanda to Ali! Watch the fight with the volume turned down. I really think the result happened because there was a pre concieved notion that I was going to start fast, tire out, and that is not what happened. Nobody ever said The Drill was going to go in there and box him for ten rounds. The thing with all of Vanda's fights is that he throws non stop punches and wins rounds like that, but I didn't allow him to do that. If you watch, by the fifth round, I was talking to Vanda about it in there. That's what made Vanda start playing and dancing around in the ring.

 

I noticed you guys talking in there, what were you saying to him?
I was telling him "yeah I am in shape" and "yeah you can't get in here on me". I was hitting him, and then backing up so he couldn't get his combinations off on me. It was frusterating him because then he started to try to mimic me and dance around. He was getting upset that he couldn't get inside on me to tire me out and I was telling him that in the ring. Then the commentators started yelling "Oooh look, Vanda is all in Phil's head, look what he's doing to him"! But no! I was the one in Vanda's head because he couldn't get inside on me! That is why he started doing what he was doing.

So looking back, you feel you won the fight, but do you wish you would have let your big punches go more like you did in the last few rounds?
Yes, I do agree with that. I do wish I would have let my big punches go more. I didn't let the big shots go until the end. That was me, thinking that I was winning the fight and wanting to show everybody that I could box for ten rounds easy if I wanted to. I thought I was winning the fight. I am thinking that he isn't getting inside on me and that I was winning comfortably. Denny Nelson is the one judge that gave the fight to me. And he is the most experienced, and he could see the boxing that I was doing. He saw the boxing match for what it was, rather then what everybody else thought it would be going in. Just because I didn't go in to knock him out, they over looked the boxing that I did and they scored the flurry's that he threw, but didn't land. I still can't believe that the announcers would say that he was landing his jab! I was jabbing his head off!

What do you take from the Vanda fight?
I feel like I gained a lot of experience and that is what is most important going into this fight with (Donovan) George. I was going for the win and I feel like I got it against Vanda and that is all I care about. I am not going to cry over spilled milk, it is what it is. I came out of that fight with progression. I am not down on myself coming out of that fight like I lost. I feel like that fight brought me up, like I have grown that much more because of how it played out. Nobody thought I was going to go in there and box for ten rounds, not get hit or hurt, nobody. And I did it. I guess they want me to go in there and swing like a mad man or something.

Vanda said in our recent interview that he believes he won the fight. What are your thoughts on that?
He doesn't believe that. He was even shocked I was there getting stronger at the end of the fight. You can hear him on camera saying to his trainer that I came in shape that night.

You will be facing Donovan George on January 29th in Chicago...
(Williams cutting in) Knockout! I am going to knock him out.

I am going to get to the prediction in a second, but can you first talk about what you know about Donovan George? Have you seen him fight?
Yeah, he reminds me of a Kelly Pavlik type of fighter. A one-two puncher. His strength is his power. And I truely believe that I am the strongest super middleweight there is. And I feel like my speed and boxing ability will negate any power that he has. I have also fought the better competition then he has.

You have shown the power, and showed against Vanda you can go the distance. Is it your plan to look for a knockout or will we see you box more like in the Vanda fight?
Oh yeah, I am going to knock him out. That is the only way this fight is going to be heard about, if I knock him out. Nobody wants to hear that I won a decision. They want to hear that I knocked him out, so that is what I will do. He is going to come in to knock me out. He is going to try. I will box this time also, but it will be to set up the knockout. The fact that I have fought the better competition looks good on paper and it gives me more confidence going in, but I just feel like I am overall the better fighter.

Anything you would like to add?
It's just time for me to go in there and handle business again. Your going to see people continue to stay away from me after this fight. You know, that's another thing. Why are all these guys around here not calling me out? You see on the internet all these guys ranking higher and calling all these other guys out. Why don't they ever call me out? I have been calling them out since my third fight. And why not? I have names on my record, don't you want to get those? Marcus Upshaw, Oliveria, Echols, Vanda. See the (Caleb) Truax's and the (Andy) Kolle's, they think they can pick on everybody else, but I guess none of these guys feel like they can pick on me. I am right here, call me out! If you have a belt, I feel like you should fight everybody and I don't feel like they are doing that. You know, I actually like Andy Kolle. I think he's the best fighter up in Duluth. But I think he is taking the easiest way to get his name into the national spotlight. Taking the easiest road. But that's ok, they can go ahead and do what they have to do I guess. I could have done it. I could be 14-0 by fighting a bunch of bums. But I told my people early that I want competition in as many fights as possible. I started that when I was 7-0 against Marcus Upshaw. I went right after Oliveria and then Echols. I am still calling out good fighters. I don't want to fight bums. Put me out of the game or put me in the game, I'm a fighter.

So that pretty much answers the question of why you would take this fight against undefeated Donovan George (18-0) in his hometown. Do you feel any pressure in this situation?
Actually no, he's the one with all the pressure on him. He has to defend his undefeated record in front of his hometown fans against a dangerous opponent. He's the one that has to put on the show. I will be the one coming in there to knock him out. He's the one that has to stop me from doing that.

 

 

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