The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER winning the triple WBO Asian and China titles on June 28, Sherman ‘The Tank’ Williams is now gearing up to return to China for his first title defence on Saturday, October 12.

His opponent is Lawrence Tauasa, who hails from Samoa, but is presently residing in Hong Kong, China.

“He’s an orthodox fighter and not a southpaw, which is a good thing,” Williams said in an interview with The Tribune. “He’s a straight forward fighter, so I don’t have to look for him.”

Tauasa, 33, has a 33-9 win-loss record with 21 knockouts. He stands at 6-feet, 2-inches.

“I’m excited about going back to China to defend my titles,” Williams said. “It’s going into the mainland in Shanghai, so I’m looking forward to going there. It will be a bigger venue and from what I understand, they will have about two or three of their Olympians turning pro on this card. So I think it’s going to be a real big deal.

“It’s going to be another way for me to showcase myself and showcase the Bahamas. Just carrying the Bahamian flag in China is a big thing. They have more than one billion people and everybody has CCTV, which is the station that they showed the fight on the last time I was there. And they will be carrying this show again.”

Williams, 39, was referring to his 12-round decision over Chauncy Welliver on June 28 when he captured the WBO China Zone and WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight crowns.

“They treated me very well the last time I was there,” said Williams, who got to watch the replay on television. “They talked a lot about the Bahamas and they gave the Bahamas at least five minutes of play in the intro. They certainly made me feel welcome the first time, so I know the second time around will be just as spectacular.”

Williams, who earned a No.12 ranking in the WBO as a result of his victory, said he’s hoping that after this trip to China, he can end up having a fight in the Bahamas where he entertains a fighter from China in a title defence as well.

In preparation for the fight, Williams said he’s just getting back in the gym after taking some time off to relax and enjoy his success. He spent about three weeks in Key West, Florida, where he was recently honoured by a group of businessmen for his achievement.

“I’m just working on light stuff right now, more importantly on conditioning,” Williams said. “I’m also working on my coordination and doing a lot of things to bring up my cardio. I’m also trying to maintain my weight. I went into the last fight at about 240 pounds. I haven’t weighed in for a while, but I hope to be right around that same size for the fight.”

The main problem that Williams says he and his management team is trying to work out is to get him some decent sparring partners in Vero Beach, Florida, to help get him in tip-top shape for the fight.

“Everything is going well. After the fight, everything has been nice for me,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to going back to China and defending these titles. I don’t want to seem overconfident but Lawrence Tauasa has already lost to Chauncy Welliver (on June 28, 2011).

“Not to be overconfident, but this guy is big and as big as he is, he lost to Chauncy. I don’t know if he has improved since that loss, but I just beat Chauncy two months ago and it wasn’t easy. So it will be some consolation for me when I take on this guy. I’m in great condition and I look forward to taking him on when we meet each other.”

Like he did against Welliver, Williams said he’s looking forward to hitting Tauasa with his famous “conch punch.”

With the fight being staged all the way in China, Williams said he knows that the Bahamian public didn’t get to watch it. But he has been able to seal a deal with Cable Bahamas for them to rebroadcast it here in the Bahamas in the very near future. Once he is done with Tauasa, Williams said he’s hoping to get that fight shown on Cable Bahamas as well.