The Rise and Fall of Thomas ‘Top Dog’ Williams Jr.
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
For a brief shining moment, light heavyweight contender Thomas ‘Top Dog’ Williams Jr. had it all. Williams had a big win, a world title shot, and had proven his claim he had a date with destiny. When this reporter met him at a boxing event in New Jersey, Williams was confident, but overconfident in terms of his belief WBC World Light Heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson was out partying and not training for his upcoming title bout with Williams seriously. The information fed to Williams was, of course, totally false.
In April of 2016, the then 20-1 Thomas Williams Jr. Williams knocked out the top rated 28-1 light heavyweight contender, Edwin Rodriguez, in the second round of a televised bout at StubHub Center in Carson, California, to earn a shot at the World Boxing Council World Light Heavyweight title. From that point on, the career of Williams went downhill.
Williams got knocked out three times after the Rodriguez victory. First, at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, Stevenson knocked down Williams in the first round, then knocked him out in the fourth round to retain his WBC World Light Heavyweight title in July of 2016.
Then, in February of 2017, 18-0 Marcus Browne knocked down Williams in the second and fourth rounds, then knocked him out in the sixth round at Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Browne lost a point for hitting Williams in the second round when he was down, but was not disqualified.
On February 17, 2018, Williams failed in yet another comeback attempt, and was knocked out by 18-1-1, Humberto Velasco Torres at Don Haskins Convention Center in El Paso, Texas. At Age 30, the career of Williams has risen and fallen. The fall of Williams is similar to the fall of former WBC World Light Heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, who was recently knocked out three times, and whose career will not recover as well. It has been a bitter rise and fall for Thomas Williams Jr., who went from ‘top dog’ to the bottom of the barrel in the light heavyweight 175 pounds division, partly due to inactivity, but primarily because Williams overestimated his abilities, and he also underestimated the abilities of his world-class opponents, the last three of whom knocked him out early and convincingly.
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