‘King’ earns 4th crown in Supreme fashion
WORLEY, Idaho – “King” Arthur Williams discovered the fountain of youth in the final seconds of the second round of his title fight Thursday night.
The former International Boxing Federation world champion and two-time United States Boxing Association cruiserweight champion added a fourth belt to his impressive resume, knocking out North American Boxing Federation champion Ali Supreme at 1 minute, 34 seconds of the third round at the Coeur d’Alene Casino’s House of Fury.
Williams, 40, stalked Supreme, 32 (formerly Greg Jones), cutting off the ring from the outset. With a half-minute left in the second round, Williams connected with back-to-back upper cuts and a big right to send Supreme sprawling into his own corner.
Another flurry of punches at the end of the round left his opponent wobbling back to his corner between rounds.
“After that (knockdown) I got some young legs,” Williams (40-13-1, 29 knockouts) said. “My trainer told me I would be surprised by how young my legs would get and they did.”
Looking a decade younger to start the third round, Williams trapped Supreme against the ropes. He unleashed a barrage of punches that opened a cut over Supreme’s left eye before he toppled onto his back in the corner to be counted out.
When the referee counted out Supreme (15-6), Williams dropped to his knees before being mobbed by his jubilant cornermen.
“They took me lightly,” Williams said. “His corner took me lightly. There aren’t that many fighters who can do this at my age.”
It was the third straight Coeur d’Alene Casino fight card to feature Williams, and the newly crowned NABF champion was appreciative.
“I want to thank Moe Smith (the casino’s matchmaker) for sticking by me the way he did,” Williams said.
Williams said he would return to his home in Las Vegas to ponder his boxing future.
“I’ll fight anybody,” he said. “I don’t care who it is, so long as the money’s right.”
Spokane heavyweight Chauncy Welliver (26-3-3) scored an eight-round unanimous decision over David Robinson (17-40-2).
“I really want to fight David Bostice,” Welliver said of the powerful heavyweight. “I want to fight him bad.”
CdA cruiserweight Shawn Hawk, who moved up to a scheduled six-rounder for the first time in his eight-fight professional career, needed just 1:16 of the first round to record his sixth knockout.
Hawk dropped Ken Schumber with a straight left hand in the middle of the ring.
Schumber (3-10) went down and not get back up for a full 5 minutes.
Sandpoint’s Favio Medina lost the first two rounds to undefeated super welterweight Carson Jones, only to come back and score a unanimous draw in the four-round bout.
Skyler Anderson celebrated his graduation from East Valley High School by scoring a first-round knockout of Mike Shanks (6-23) in his professional debut.