When he’s not taking orders for tortillas at his day job, veteran Denver boxer DaVarryl Williamson still dreams of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world.
That dream may be drawing closer to reality.
Don King, the bombastic boxing promoter who took a battered Williamson under his cluttered wing just six months ago, believes Williamson is back on track for the big time.
“He’s a great contender with great promise,” King said in a prepared statement from Las Vegas, where he’s promoting Saturday night’s showdown between Felix Trinidad and Winky Wright. “He’s certainly proven he’s able to fight for the title, and I think he would be an excellent challenger for the crown. I think his performance against Derrick Jefferson (a second-round TKO at Madison Square Garden in New York on April 30) proved he’s worthy.
“I’ll be working to get him his world-title shot. If it comes in his next fight, great. If not, he must continue to win until I can make that happen. I look forward to giving him the opportunity to become the heavyweight champion of the world.”
And King is in position to make that happen.
With James Toney’s victory over John Ruiz for the WBA crown at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago, King now owns the promotional rights to three of the four champions – Toney, Chris Byrd (IBF) and Lamon Brewster (WBO).
The only one he doesn’t represent is Vitali Klitschko, the WBC champ.
“That’s beautiful,” Williamson said Monday. “When I signed on with Don King, I didn’t ask him to make me the champ. I just asked him for the opportunity and I’d take it from there.”
Williamson said he and his wife, Shalifa, have been invited to be among King’s guests at the Trinidad-Wright fight.
“I’m hoping he’s going to put his arm around me and whsiper a sweet something in my ear,” Williamson said. “You know, ‘It’s going to be so-and-so on such-and-such date.”‘
Regaining confidence
There was a day some 20 months ago – Sept. 27, 2003 – when it appeared Williamson had fought his last fight, losing in a first-round TKO to Joe Mesi in Mesi’s hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. Before the fight, Williamson had scored 12 consecutive knockouts, but had suffered a broken jaw in the last one and was out of boxing eight months.
Yet it was after the embarrassment of that fight, Williamson said, that he rededicated himself to his dream.
“The loss to Joe Mesi … we really feel it was because of that loss that we got back to where we are now,” Williamson said. “I mean, to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and to get yourself back into the thick of things is saying a lot for an individual.”
After that fight, Williamson regained some confidence with a ninth-round knockout of Kendrick Releford on Jan. 17, 2004, and a majority decision over Elicier Castillo before the boostraps slipped a bit in a controversial, split-decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko on Oct. 10.
A month later, in what he said was a “show-me test” set up by King, Williamson scored a unanimous decision over former champion Oliver McCall that got him the promotional contract and the fight against Jefferson two weeks ago.
“I don’t think the timing could be any better,” Williamson said. “I just think there’s a huge flux in the heavyweight division right now. And I think these last couple of wins have put me right back in the middle of it. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, because no one’s gone out there and moved to the head of the class. So I’m just thankful, that I’ll have an opportunity to compete for one of those titles and then go ahead and unifiy it.”
Brawling behind him
At the Touch ‘Em Up Gym behind the Tortillas Mexico headquarters where Williamson works for longtime local boxing supporter Jose Rangel as a salesman, veteran Denver trainer George Durbin believes what King believes.
“Oh, yeah, he’s there,” said Durbin, who’s worked with Williamson since 1998 and throughout his five-year career as a professional. “There’s not any more questions to be answered, really. He’s fought all the tough competitors and one’s as good as the other, so he’s ready. He’s been in there with them. There’s no sense in waiting.”
But even though Williamson will turn 37 in July, there’s no rush, Durbin said.
“His age might be a factor to his wife and kids, but in boxing right now, it’s not a factor, because he’s in a body that’s younger than a 30-year-old’s body. He didn’t start boxing until he was 25, so he’s at a good point in his career. He hasn’t taken any bad beatings so he’s still very smart, he’s still very sharp. He’s taken good care of himself.”
Since the Mesi fight, said Williamson, “I’ve kind of converted myself into more of a boxer- puncher rather than just a brawler. Obviously, I can brawl if I need to. I mean, I don’t want to take punches, but I can if I have to. Boxing’s a sport where you’re going to get hit and you’re going to get hit hard. You just don’t want to get hit hard too often. So I think I’m more of a complete fighter. I think I’m more of a thinking-man’s fighter.”
Colorado’s last National Golden Gloves champion (1999) and a star quarterback in high school in Washington, D.C. (at Theodore Roosevelt) and in college (at Wayne State in Nebraska), Williamson credits clean living for his recovery.
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“I think I’m just getting warmed up,” he said. “I like my chances. I love the fact that I never did drugs nor steroids or anything like that. No drinking. No smoking. I mean, I feel this is my reward for not polluting my body.”
And it doesn’t matter which of the four champions King matches him up against, Williamson said.
“The four heayvweights out there, they all know exactly who I am. They’re very familiar with me, and I feel like I’ve entered into that same pool of talent, so to speak, so I should be competing for one of those four belts. I am a viable opponent for any one of them. You can’t argue that DaVarryl is not a bona fide heavyweight contender.”
Staff writer Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
