John “Spidey” Williams heads to Atlantic City for HBO Televised Event and Title Bout

John “Spidey the Boxing Poet” Williams (11-2-1)

I walked into the Dyme Boxing & Fitness gym in Charlotte and immediately saw one of its fighters, who in recent years has also become a friend.  John “Spidey the Boxing Poet” Williams approached me with a smile as I greeted him by saying, “Hey, Spidey, what’s going on?” I reached out for his hand to shake it.

Spidey grasped my hand hard and very loudly replied, “Just the biggest fight of my life!”

Spidey will soon be traveling to Atlantic City for an HBO televised event and taking on a formidable opponent, Yordenis Ugas, the Cuban fighter and Olympian now residing in Miami. Aside from winning a gold medal at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships when he was 19, and then winning gold at the 2007 Pan American Games, Ugas also captured the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the lightweight division.

As a professional, 27-year-old Ugas is now 14-0, with half of those wins (7) coming by way of knockout or TKO. His only loss was by the skin of his teeth, a split-decision defeat to Johnny Garcia back in March of 2012. One judge gave it to Ugas, while the other two had it 76-75 for Garcia in the eight-round bout.

If there is any reason to believe that Ugas’ boxing skills is suspect as a professional, it is that most of his opponents thus far have had poor records, with the exception of the only boxer he lost to, Garcia, who was 11-0 at the time and is currently 16-1.

Though the same may be said of Spidey’s opponent’s records, he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to fight outside of the North Carolina club fights scene. Until now.

Spidey’s first of his two losses was to Demetrius Andrade five years ago in 2009 when Andrade was 6-0. Not only does Andrade remain undefeated today with a record of 19-0, he was scheduled this month for a title shot in a match that got cancelled. He will be fighting for the WBO light-middleweight title in September. It may be said that “the wrong opponent” was matched against Spidey too early in the North Carolinian’s career.

Spidey’s only other loss was a six-round majority decision defeat to Andre Baker in 2011, a loss that was satisfied by redemption the following year when Spidey defeated Baker in the rematch, in February 2012, with a unanimous decision win.

Spidey shook his head at me and expressed how wildly the situation has progressed in his upcoming Atlantic City bout. “First it was scheduled for six rounds,” he said. “Then eight rounds. And now it’s set for ten rounds!” After a pause he continued, “And they added the [vacant] WBC Intercontinental belt to the fight! But, hey, I’m ready. And we got a game plan.”

By “we”, Spidey was obviously referring to his team at the Dyme, which includes his trainer and one of boxing’s best coaches, James Pressley. Others training at Dyme Boxing & Fitness under the tutelage of Pressley include undefeated light-welterweight Jared “The Quiet Storm” Robinson (13-0), former world champion Tavoris Cloud (24-1), heavyweight Hassan Lee (5-3), and a slew of amateur athletes that have had great success in tournaments. Nearly every one of Pressley’s boxing athletes won his bout in this year’s State Golden Gloves Championships in Charlotte.

Spidey, who is 29 years old and also a published poet, may have summed it up for his fans with a recent comment on his Facebook page:

“August 17 my first title shot…I’m bringing that belt home to Charlotte!...When I get it, good luck in getting it back!”


Paco River, GAR1680 North Carolina Boxing Talk Radio & Blog
Twitter: @GAR1680

Note: There are seven bouts thus far scheduled for the boxing event on August 17, 2013 in Atlantic City, New Jersey with the main event that of Daniel Geale vs. Darren Barker. It is unknown at this time if John “Spidey” Williams vs. Yordenis Ugas will be one of the undercard bouts that get televised by HBO.

Spidey Williams can be followed on Twitter @SpideyWilliams