Who is more feared in boxing right now, Martinez or Williams?

I think you have to go with Martinez. Williams is a handful for anyone b/c of his height and long arms, but I think that he has looked less than spectacular in his recent fights. Martinez beat him on my scorecard, but it was a close fight. Martinez definitely got the better of him though, he hurt Paul a couple of times and Williams got his in too, but I think Paul took more of the beating. I think when it comes down to it and you were to put both guys in a fight with everyone at JM or MW, Sergio would be favored much more than Williams would be, and he could beat basically everyone in those two weight classes. Paul is good, but he needs to get going in fights and doesn't have very good defense at all. His best weapons are his height and punch volume, but he usually doesn't fight to his advantages. Whereas Sergio has great defense, is very elusive and is a VERY accurate puncher. If we are talking in terms of fear, I think more people would definitely fear Sergio b/c he is an all around complete fighter and poses more problems for every fighter than Paul would, even with Williams tremendous reach and height advantages.

Most feared, i'd say Sergio Martinez. But most avoided, i'd say Paul Wiliams.

Sergio Martinez is currently a two division champion, opponents know what he's all about, he's got KO power and he's very swift with his movements. So im pretty sure the reason its hard for him to find an opponent is because of the "fear" of getting KO'd. Paul Williams on the other hand is the most avoided simply because of his freakish size in the 147 division, most people know he's got decent power but the thing that Williams has is that long reach of his, in my opinion,

Martinez has more of a chance to KO a fighter, Williams has more of a chance to out work a fighter by throwing jabs all night and it can get pretty frustrating trying to get inside on a fighter with a reach as long as Williams.

More feared? Williams.

Martinez is a bit of a tougher challenge, as he's very athletic, elusive, and quick-handed, and VERY intelligent.

But most, if not all the big names at 154 want to fight him.

Williams is a giant for his weight, with a staggering 82 inch reach, and is a southpaw to boot.

His height, style, and punch output have helped to make him avoided, as he has what it takes to make any opponent look terrible.

However, he is hittable. Williams was hit all fight long by Martinez, who couldn't do much to get out of the way of his left hand and counter right hooks, and was hit quite a few times by Kermit Cintron in their brief affair.

But I have to say that Williams in the more feared between the two and would love nothing more than to see P-Will fight Martinez again.

I think the most feared guys in boxing right now are the Klitschko brothers by far.Williams used to be feared but with his last 2 performances he proved that he is not all that!

Most people believe that he lost against Martinez who fought Williams with 7 days of notice only,there is a rematch planned for the two, but the only difference this time will be that Martinez will train for a couple of months for Williams and i think this time no robbery will save Williams.

The most feared man in boxing right now is Chad Dawson! As for your question, I believe Paul Williams has been amongst the most feared men in boxing the last few years, where as Martinez hasn't been a known name till he fought Williams...

I would say Williams because of the physical advantages he brings against most guys - its much more difficult to game plan against freak height and reach, than a slick style that Martinez brings.

Both guys are right at the top of the sport in my book, but neither has the name recognition to command huge fights - i.e one of the biggest problems with boxing.

I recently read that blog from ESPN.com and I couldn't believe that a 2 division champion such as Sergio Martinez doesn't have an HBO date but I think that he'll get a date pretty soon because I think that at least ONE of the fighters on the list that his manager gave to HBO will want to take the opportunity to fight him for one of his titles. So, since Martinez at least has some viable options, I would have to say that Paul Williams is more feared in boxing right now for the following reasons:

~ He does not compete in one single division and does not currently have a world title- he claims that he's going back down to welterweight but why would any welterweight in their right mind take on a guy who has been beating the best fighters in the junior middleweight and middleweight divisions recently? Due to him not owning a world title, he doesn't bring much to the table except the danger of getting a loss because he does not bring in that much revenue and he has no title whereas Martinez at least has his belts going for him.

~ He's a stylistic nightmare for anyone between 147 and 160 pounds- Williams claims he can still make 147 and with his height, reach, southpaw stance and volume punching style, there is not going to be a single welterweight who will willingly take him on unless the paycheck is so grand that they can't turn the fight down and Williams just doesn't bring that type of money to his fights. Martinez is also not the kind of fighter who you would necessarily want to face but due to him being a current world champion as well as him not being a volume puncher and not having great defense, fighters are more willing to take on him compared to Williams.

~ Williams is seen as the better fighter pound for pound even though Martinez is seen as the more skilled guy and when a guy with less skill is seen as better, then that generally means that he's the more feared guy. Williams defeated Martinez in an extremely close majority decision at middleweight which is proof enough that Williams is more feared than Martinez since he beat him but Williams also owns a clear victory over Antonio Margarito and Margarito was the first guy to give Martinez a loss (which was a 7th round knockout loss), and in addition to that, Williams also owns clear victories over the former champs; Winky Wright, Verno Phillips, Carlos Quintana (after losing the first fight) and Sharmba Mitchell. Martinez on the other hand has only beaten 1 top-echelon fighter in Kelly Pavlik (although he did deserve the victory in his draw with Kermit Cintron).

~ Lastly, there's the fact that Martinez actually has viable options even if no one is currently leaping at the chance to fight him whereas Williams does not have nearly as many realistic options that Martinez has. Williams' most realistic option is a rematch with Martinez but Williams is fooling himself into thinking that if he fights at 147 pounds, the top guys such as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will fight him- it's just never going to happen because the risk will always outweigh the reward with Williams. At least with Martinez, the latter will actually WANT to face him because he wants to avenge the close loss but I guarantee you that if you asked the top-ranked boxers in between 154 and 160 pounds, which fighter between Williams or Martinez they would rather face, more would tell you that they would prefer Martinez due to him being a champion as well as his style not being as imposing as Williams' volume punching style.

EDIT: Williams is more avoided because he's more feared- he clearly beat the first guy to give Martinez a loss, he beat Martinez himself, he has more knockouts than Martinez, a higher knockout percentage, he throws and lands WAY more punches than Martinez and he's a southpaw just like Martinez but Williams' right is just as good as his left whereas Martinez's left is clearly superior to his right.

Paul is the most feared. Even Sergio does not want to fight Paul.

Williams. He is an awkward boxer. He's too tall and too long for anyone to be comfortable fighting him.

I'm going with Williams, because he's only calling out welterweights who have a ridiculous size disadvantage and thus, avoiding him.