The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Sherman 'The Tank' Williams made sure the long journey to Macau, China, was worth his while.

At the Grand Waldo Conference & Exhibition Centre Wednesday night, he captured both the World Boxing Organisation's China Zone and Asia Pacific heavyweight titles over Chauncy 'Hillyard Hammer' Welliver.

In the main event bout that went the full 12 rounds, two judges scored in favour of Williams 115-112 and 119-110, while the third judge had it even at 114-114.

Williams, weighed in at 242 pounds - the lightest he has been in more than a decade - reportedly won every round and he used his over-hand right effectively to get the job done.

It was Williams' first fight since he fought former world champion Evander 'Real Deal' Holyfield to a 'no contest' and his manager Si Stern was quite pleased.

"Sherman has been patient and all of his hard work finally paid off tonight," Si was quoted as saying on the Internet.

"It was a great fight and an incredible experience to hear the decision and watch Sherman's arm raised in victory. He really earned this win. I'm so proud of him.

"Sherman should move into the high ratings and be positioned for a big fight later this year. Our dream is a world title fight."

Williams, who won for the first time since December 12, 2008, against Andrew Greeley, improved his win-loss-draw record to 34-11-1 with 19 knockouts.

Welliver, ranked at No.5 by the World Boxing Council and No.8 by the WBO going into the fight, lost for the first time in 18 fights over the past three years.

Williams was unavailable for comments up to press time last night as he was in transit back to the United States. But his wife, Kim Williams, said from Florida that they are both looking forward to coming to the Bahamas to celebrate.

"He's really excited about winning the titles," she said. "He went into the fight, taking the Bahamas with him and now he wants to come home and enjoy his success with the Bahamian people."

Williams, a native of Grand Bahama and former Olympian, turned pro in 1997, losing the first two of his three fights before he went on a 12-win streak.

"He gave a lot of praise to God," Kim Williams said. "In all of the years that I've known him, I've never seen him as composed as he was going to China.

"I'm just so happy that he won those titles. I can't wait for him to get home tonight. But we're looking forward to coming back to the Bahamas. He wants to show off what he achieved to the Bahamian people."

Kim Williams said they intend to be in the Bahamas sometime next week.