“I was winning!” says Williamson
Post-fight report of “Oktoberfist!”

Report by Herman Patton
Photography by Chris Cozzone

The first speaker was promoter Gary Shaw, who mentioned he had to leave early in order to catch a flight to Thailand. Shaw announced that  there were going to be several no-shows at the press conference.

Ouma was getting stitches; Phillips was nowhere to be found; and Vanderpool was getting a catscan ordered by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

While the media awaited Wladimir Klitschko and DaVarryl Williamson, the only fighter available was newly-crowned IBF Supermiddleweight champ Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy.

Shaw gave his props to Lacy’s trainer, Dan Birmingham. Birmingham, a “no-nonsense type of guy” is his pick for Best Trainer of 2004 as he now has two world champions at two major weight classes.

Besides Lacy, Birmingham also trains Winky Wright, who will be fighting Sugar Shane Mosley in a rematch November 20 at Mandalay Bay.

Birmingham took the podium, saying that although he would like to take some credit for Lacy’s success, it was the fighter who deserved all the credit.

“Jeff stuck to the fight plan. He knew Syd Vanderpool would frustrate Jeff earlier in the bout but also that he would catch up to him later in the match. He used his straight punches and when he got close to him, he used his uppercuts and hooks to end the bout”.

“Nobody is going to stop Jeff Lacy because he has too much determination.”

The new champion—and also the first U.S. 2000 Olympian to win a world title—was next.

“I went over this fight about 50 times in my head,” he said. “I knew that all I had to do was to claim what was mine.

“The one thing I knew was that I was going to get him, but it was the crowd that fueled me and lifted me up.”

In conclusion, Lacy stated that he plans on being around a long time. Possible big fights at either 160 or 175 will be considered after he unifies the 168 pound class.

While the crowd awaited Klitschko and Williamson, former heavyweight champ, and now trainer, Tim Witherspoon, talked about his fighter, Kassim Ouma.

He gave a summary of Ouma’s difficult life in Uganda; how he’d been abducted as a youth and forced to fight in the military at the age of seven.

Finally, Klitschko and his team appeared.

Klitschko gave Williamson praise for being a strong fighter and having a high ranking.

“He showed good skills but I made some mistakes.”

Klitschko said he’d been caught off guard when he was knocked down by Williamson; and, at the time of the stoppage, he’d wanted to continue fighting.

“I wanted to fight but it wasn’t my judgment to stop the fight. The judges make the final decision.”

When Klitschko opened up the conference to questions, Lance Whitaker stood up and shouted.

“This was supposed to be my fight. What happened?”

Nobody gave him too much attention and his attempt to make a scene fizzled when DaVarryl Williamson entered the room.

Williamson wasted no time in expressing his views.

“I really think that I was winning,” he stated. “Everything was going the way my team and I planned it.”

He then went on to say that he knew that Wladimir was going to get the earlier round but around the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, he was going to take control of the fight.

“I can see why Wladimir and the Klitschko team didn’t want to go any more rounds because I was controlling the bout. Tthere was an accidental head-butt, which is one of those things that happen in boxing, but the fight was stopped too early.”

Williamson said he felt shorted but would want to fight him again.

“I’ll fight him next week,” he said, but said he’d have to wait for Klitschko’s cut to heal.

When asked if he was ever hurt in the fight, Williamson gave an adamant “No!” He also stated that it was very surprising that Klitschko had 39 knockouts but that “he was not hurt during the course of the fight.”

Furthermore, Williamson said that he “absolutely” felt he was going to knock out Klitschko.

“I got real excited once I knocked him down. Around the third round, I could tell Wladimir was breathing heavily out of his mouth.”

At this point, Whitaker tried to steal the scene but both Williamson and the Klitschko camp blew him off.

After the press conference was over, Emanuel Steward, Klitschko’s trainer, explained that he believed DaVarryl Williamson was thinking of a different fight from the one that had just occurred.

“It’s hard to chase a fighter down especially if you’re a big fighter and the small fighter is on the run.”

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