If things had worked out differently, Ricardo Williams Jr. would never have gone to jail, would never have taken repeated shortcuts in training and would have been one of the three or four best fighters in the world.
Williams dream. He knows is he can somehow recapture the glory that eluded him. He still facing 42-year-old men who have just one win in their previous 13 fights.
An uninspired and out-of-shape Williams lost in his 10th professional fight to journeyman. ...to those who had been watching closely... saw Williams coasted, cut corners and skipped training sessions altogether.Williams was content to get by on reputation.
Now a 29-year-old journeyman no one holds out much hope for, Williams conceded that most of his shortcomings belong squarely on his shoulders.
Williams said. “I never matched my conditioning with my talent. I did just enough to get by, and just enough is not enough in this game.”
Williams is 16-2 overall, 6-0 since mounting a comeback after being released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Ky., in 2008 after serving 31 months of a conviction for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Williams did his time and he’s saying all the right things, though he’s moving extraordinarily slowly.
Williams is convincing when he says the years have given him a new outlook:
“I’m fighting for something more than myself. It’s given me a newfound hunger. I know I can still succeed at this. I believe I still have what it takes but I have to dig deep inside of myself because I know there is no room for error.
“I’m trying to put the work in every day, which I didn’t do before ..."
“I do have the talent – and now I have the motivation coming from my family,” he said. “It’s a matter of matching my condition with my talent."
If he makes it, it will be one of the great comeback stories ever in a sport replete with them. He’s never gotten anywhere near fulfilling his potential.
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