Mike Tyson conqueror Danny Williams is enjoying his most extended absence from the ring after fighting 88 times as a professional.
Williams has rejected any advances to make a comeback since his last loss in August 2023. The Briton last graced the squared circle in suffering his 33rd career defeat to the undefeated 8-0 heavyweight Louison Loizou in Tallinn, Estonia.
World Boxing News has been a keen follower of Williams and his developing story after his Cinderella Man victory over Tyson. ‘The Brixton Bomber’ had already overcome a UK title challenge with one dislocated shoulder against the late Mark Potter, when the Tyson call came four years later.
American TV networks saw the 30-year-old as fodder for Tyson, who was attempting to set up a world title rematch with Lennox Lewis. After losing to Lewis in 2002, Tyson stated he’d need two warm-up fights before battling the champion for a second time.
Lewis had already pulverized Tyson, but the world’s number one heavyweight aimed to pad his bank balance before retirement. He knew Tyson was the only fighter who could help him do that. So, after a quickfire win over Clifford Etienne, Tyson set up the Williams event in Louisville, Kentucky.
Williams went into the contest, beating former Tyson opponent Julius Francis and British rival Michael Sprott.
Tyson had troubles as long as his arm going into the fight, including legal action and bankruptcy. Even with that, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ was a 9-1 favorite.
Danny Boy didn’t read the script and took Tyson out in four rounds. The win gave Williams a launchpad to make his most significant payday in a world title shot against Vitali Klitschko, but it also had a damaging knock-on effect.
He bounced back with a victory over Zoltan Petranyi and later Adnan Serin.
Williams would be known as the man who retired Mike Tyson, even before Kevin McBride came along. The tag led to two decades of offers that only began to dry up in 2023.
Before the Tyson fight, Williams had a record of 31-3, 26 KOs. Fast forward 19 years, and Williams lost thirty of his next 54 bouts, scoring wins over Audley Harrison, Scott Gammer, John McDermott, and Konstantin Airich. His UK career ended in 2010 against Derek Chisora.
Despite losing his British license, Williams continued to accept European purses in obscure places, beating Laszlo Toth and Frank Kary Roth. He would not retire, even ten years ago at 41.
WBN often reported that Williams had promised a fight would be his last, only to return within months. Fans and media sighed each time they saw Danny Williams on the boxing schedule, as a string of defeats failed to push him to hang up his gloves.
There was one high point in 2019, when Williams ended Boban Filipovic’s 24-0-0 unbeaten run, but those kinds of results were few and far between.
As he settles into his fifties at 51, it finally seems that Williams is at the end of the road with an 89th career professional bout not on the horizon.
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Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, an experienced boxing writer and World Boxing News Editor since 2010.
