"We like to fight, not to make statements. If they give us a weight limit, we will make it from 147-160 pounds. We will make that weight and we will show up for fight night. That's all we know what to do. We don't know nothing else. Paul is a fighter, he's a warrior, he wants to fight. These other guys play these politic games and I've never been good at that. We just like to fight...He's the same old dog, and you don't teach a dog new tricks. Martinez is not going to do anything different. Let me give you some words of advice and wisdom: you don't put your money on an old dog," stated George Peterson, world-class trainer of Paul Williams as he talked about their upcoming rematch with middleweight king Sergio Martinez and much more. Check it out!
DH: Are you imagining this will be a harder fight, seeing that Martinez will have a full training camp, as opposed to three weeks in the first fight, to prepare for this fight?
GP: I don't see it being harder; I see it being easier.
DH: Is that because you may have seen something in the Pavlik fight that you thought Paul could exploit better?
GP: Well, you know, Pavlik is Pavlik. He goes 1-2-1, 1-2 with his punches. He's a systematic guy; he always does the same thing.
DH: Why did it take so long to get the fight officially signed? When HBO first announced the fight, the negotiations weren't done and it looked like HBO was pushing you to sign the fight a little quicker.
GP: Well, a lot of times, it's just negotiations; it's two people, sometimes four or five people, trying to make a deal and everybody has different reasons for different things. That's just bascially it. I know you've been negotiating at times and things weren't going in your favor and you say, "Hey, if I don't get things going my way, then there's no reason for it." You've got to understand this, we've got a win over Martinez and that's what people don't realize. He doesn't have a win over us. We beat him. Did you hear the results? We got a win over Martinez; we didn't have to fight him. People are saying, "Oh, you're scared of him." Why are we scared of him when we already beat him? It's already behind us! You know, we took that fight on three week notice. You don't think we'd take it on a three month notice? Come on. I don't know what these people in boxing are thinking sometimes? Well, Paul has never ducked anyone that can stand up and agree to fight him at 47, 54 or 160 pounds. No one! Paul has been fighting guys in his last five or six fights that nobody else wanted to fight. Margarito, nobody wanted to fight. Verno Phillips, nobody wanted to fight him. What's the other guys name we had fought?
DH: Winky Wright?
GP: Yeah, Winky Wright, nobody would fight. You know, Paul's been fighting all these guys and then when the fight with Martinez came, we didn't have to take that fight on three weeks notice. Paul said, "Hey, I can beat this guy," and what I can't understand now is when you ask me a question like, "Why did it take so long," I mean, what kind of a question is that when a man takes a fight on three week's notice? I don't think that's a fair question.
DH: I guess I can see things on your end too. I can imagine how that sounds.
GP: Yeah, I mean, hey, he was a champion and we took it. We beat him. Do you think we have some fear of not beating him this time? He's the same old dog, and you don't teach a dog new tricks. Martinez is not going to do anything different. Let me give you some words of advice and wisdom: you don't put your money on an old dog!
DH: I wanted to bring something to your attention. Have you heard that Bob Arum, over the past couple of days, has been talking about matching Pacquiao with Paul and will gauge his performance from Margarito before he talks any further about...
GP: (Cutting In) Of course Bob Arum didn't make that statement, you know what I mean? See, we like to fight, not to make statements. If they give us a weight limit, we will make it from 147-160 pounds. We will make that weight and we will show up for fight night. That's all we know what to do. We don't know nothing else. Paul is a fighter, he's a warrior, he wants to fight. These other guys play these politic games and I've never been good at that. We just like to fight.
DH: Well, hopefully when the fight does happen next month, Paul gets some big time exposure. It's great that you guys are always on HBO and I'm surprised that nobody is calling you these days. Paul always has a date on HBO. To me, it's surprising that nobody wants to give you a call.
GP: Oh yeah, you're right about that. I gotta agree with you on that one. If you want to fight on HBO, you've got to fight Paul Williams.
DH: What do you think of Pacquiao-Margarito? Who wins?
GP: Pacquiao!
DH: Do you think he's going stop him?
GP: Yeah.
DH: What about Hopkins-Pascal in December? I kind of find it funny that Hopkins had said that Paul was scared to fight him at 170, but I think that even at 170, Paul would beat him.
GP: Yeah, we had asked if he could come down to 165 and he didn't want to come down to 165. He said 170. I mean, who are we? We can't even make 160 and he wants us to come to 170?
DH: Yeah, that's definitely the secret of Bernard's "longevity" after he turned 40. Do you think he beats Pascal?
GP: No, I don't think so. If he's got a good cut man, he should win the fight. He needs to have someone to work on those cuts because Bernard is going to headbutt him to death.
DH: Mr. Peterson, thank you for your time. You're a gentleman of the sport and we wish you and Paul the best of luck. Is there anything you'd like to leave the fans with before I let you go?
GP: Just continue to give us your support. Paul Williams is the next big thing out there. Paul is number three pound-for-pound. Number two is Mayweather and number one is Pacquiao and neither one of those guys will fight Paul Williams. It's a bad situation, but we're just going to tag along until something breaks out.