Daniel Peter Williams (born 13 July 1973) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2023. He challenged once for the WBC and the Ring magazine heavyweight titles in 2004. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth heavyweight title twice between 1999 and 2006, the British heavyweight title twice between 2000 and 2010, and challenged once for the European heavyweight title in 2003. As an amateur, he won bronze medals at the 1993 European Championships and 1994 Commonwealth Games. Williams is best known for scoring an upset knockout victory against Mike Tyson in 2004.
Early life Williams's parents are both originally from Jamaica. Williams grew up in Brixton, South London with his 2 older brothers and 1 younger sister.
Amateur career As an amateur boxer out of the famous Lynn AC boxing gym in SE London, Williams learned his trade quickly, often sparring with the likes of clubmates Henry Akinwande and Derek Angol. In 1991 Williams won the PLA tournament and won a gold medal in Sardinia multi-nation tournament and a gold medal in the Greek multi-nations tournament. In the Finland multi-nations in 1992 he won a bronze medal.
Williams also won a bronze medal at the European Championships 1993 at heavyweight in the 91 kg/201 lbs limit and bronze at super heavyweight at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.Commonwealth Games1994. Amateur-boxing.strefa.pl (21 July 2009). Retrieved on 7 March 2013. Williams also won a gold medal at the 1994 Liverpool multi-nations tournament. His amateur record was 29–6.
Highlights
Tammer tournament, Tampere, Finland, October 1992: 1/4: Defeated Girdrius Monstvilas (Lithuania) RSC 1 1/2: Lost to Vasiliy Kirianov (Finland) 22:28
European championships, Bursa, Turkey, September 1993: 1/8: Defeated Edin Bajrić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) AB 2 1/4: Defeated Dmitriy Karpeyev (Ukraine) RSC 3 1/2: Lost to Don Diego Poeder (Netherlands) KO 1
Multi-nations tournament, Liverpool, England, May 1994: 1/2: Defeated Shane Hinton (Canada) RSC 2 Finals: Defeated Danny Watts (England) KO 1
Commonwealth Games, Victoria, Canada, August 1994: 1/4: Defeated Shane Hinton (Canada) 19:9 1/2: Lost to Duncan Dokiwari (Nigeria) 13:24
Professional career Early career Williams turned pro in 1995 knocking out Vance Ideans in two rounds. He fought routinely on Frank Warren undercards and compiled a 15–0 (12 KOs) record. He is currently managed by London promoter Michael Helliet and is trained by Jim McDonagh.
British and Commonwealth title challenge Williams vs. Francis Williams took his first big step up in April 1999 to challenge Julius Francis for his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. A hot favourite, Williams lost in a points decision to the 34-year-old veteran.
First reign as British and Commonwealth champion Williams vs. Senior Francis would later vacate the Commonwealth title for a big money fight with Mike Tyson. Williams won the title with a closely contested split decision over respected British contender (and former amateur clubmate) Harry Senior.
Williams vs. Potter In 2000 Williams put together four knockouts before fighting Mark Potter for the Commonwealth title and the vacant British title. In an extremely dramatic fight, Williams suffered a dislocated right arm, yet very bravely fought on with one arm over two rounds before knocking Potter out with a left uppercut.
Williams vs. Meehan After an eight-month layoff for surgery and recovery, Williams returned to knock out a respected opponent – Kali Meehan in 32 seconds.
Williams vs. Francis II Williams then avenged his defeat to Francis, stopping him on an eye injury in the 4th round. Afterwards he was signed by Don King and ended 2001 knocking out US journeyman Shaun Robinson in two rounds on an undercard in America.
Williams vs. Sprott Williams' tenure under King would prove to be uneventful, and he did not renew his contract at the end of 2002, a year that saw Williams retain his British and Commonwealth titles with a knockout of late sub Michael Sprott.
Williams vs. Long Williams then scored a points win over Keith Long. As this was Williams' third defence of the British title, he won the Lonsdale belt outright, before dropping out of a fight in America with hard hitting South African southpaw Corrie Sanders, because it coincided with Ramadan.
European title challenge Williams vs. Samil Sam In February 2003 Williams travelled to Germany to fight the Turk Sinan Samil Sam for his European heavyweight title. A strong favourite, Williams was surprisingly dropped three times and stopped in six rounds. In the UK, his local rivals Audley Harrison and Herbie Hide derided him in the press.
Resumed reign as British and Commonwealth champion Williams vs. Mirovic Williams returned with a fourth round stoppage of Australian Bob Mirovic to retain his Commonwealth title.
Williams vs. Sprott II Williams then knocked out Michael Sprott in five rounds to defend his British & Commonwealth titles. The ending was controversial due to alleged low blows before the final shot.
Williams vs. Sprott III To begin 2004, Williams re-signed with Frank Warren then lost his British and Commonwealth in a third meeting with Michael Sprott via a disputed close points decision.
Rise up the ranks Williams vs. Tyson
After two comeback knockout wins, Williams boxed former world champion Mike Tyson at Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky in July 2004. After staggering Williams numerous times in the first round, Tyson was unable to seriously hurt Williams in subsequent rounds and could not cope with Williams' sustained aggression and accurate combination punching. Williams knocked Tyson down with a series of punches in the fourth round for a knockout win.
WBC and The Ring heavyweight title challenge Williams vs. Klitschko
In December he finally challenged for a world heavyweight title, but Vitali Klitschko proved too much, as Williams was stopped in the 8th round after going down four times.
Second reign as Commonwealth champion Williams vs. Harrison In December, Williams regained his old Commonwealth belt by beating undefeated Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison by split decision.
Williams vs. Skelton Williams retained the Commonwealth title with a controversial points win over undefeated Matt Skelton in March 2006.
Williams vs. Skelton II After beating Adnan Serin by a third round retirement, Williams lost his Commonwealth title by unanimous decision in a rematch with Skelton.
In December 2006 when Skelton dropped out of a fight with Audley Harrison, Williams stepped in at a weeks notice. By his own admission he had been training for eight weeks for a fight with British champion Scott Gammer. Williams lost by TKO in the 3rd round, suffering a broken nose.
Second reign as British champion Williams vs. Gammer In March 2007 Williams regained the British title in Wales with a 9th-round knockout of Scott Gammer. Williams came in at the lightest he had been since his pro debut 16 stone 4 pounds (4 stones lighter than his previous fight), after training himself for the fight just with a piece of paper that contained a conditioning programme given to him by Joe Dunbar who had worked with Lennox Lewis.
Williams vs. Platov After he had watched the tape of his fight with Gammer, Williams decided he would continue boxing and took a fight with Ukrainian prospect Oleg Platov (26–1, 22 KOs). He came in again at 270 lbs. Both fighters were engaged in wild exchanges from the first bell on. The Ukrainian picked up a badly-bleeding cut above the left eye following an accidental headbutt in the second round and he continued to swing wild punches but not without taking some huge shots from Williams. After 2:15 in the fourth and with the cut getting worse, the referee waved the fight off. According to the rules of the IBF, it was declared a no contest. Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer defended the decision. "The rules are clear", he said. "We had an accidental headbutt and the referee, who consulted the doctor several times, ruled he could not continue to protect his health." Speaking exclusively to SecondsOut after the fight a disappointed Williams said: "He (Platov) was looking for a way out and he got it. He knew the rules and worked them. He was starting to tire and knew it was only a matter of time before I knocked him out. ...I found it slow in the early rounds but I when I got going I started to get on top. He knew I was gonna knock him out and he was looking for a way out. I’m not sure whether or not it was a punch or a head clash that cut him in the second round. It took be a little while to get going but I really enjoyed it, it was a great fight while it lasted. But he was looking for a way out. He kept falling to the floor and it was only a matter of time before I knocked him out."
Williams vs. Airich On 30 May 2008 Williams defeated unbeaten German, Konstantin Airich in a highly controversial fight. Williams had a total of 3 points deducted in rounds 2 and 5 creating a feeling afterwards that the referee was blatantly on the side of the German. In addition he was given 2 standing 8 counts by the referee in round 3 despite not actually being knocked down or touching the canvas, and was also counted after slipping in round 4.Williams-Airich Video: Watch an amazing heavyweight battle as Danny Williams takes on Konstantin Airich, the referee and others! . Eastsideboxing.com (30 May 2008). Retrieved on 7 March 2013. After managing to fight back and score a knockdown himself in round 5, in the 6th round Williams unleashed a series of extremely punishing blows on his opponent sending him reeling across the ring. At this point Airich's promoter Ahmet Oner controversially ran over and rang the timekeeper's bell himself to end the round and save his fighter, even though there was still 1:28 left to go in the round. Despite this confusion the fight continued after the shortened 6th round and after seeing his man absorb more heavy punishment in the next round Oner eventually threw in the towel handing Williams a 7th-round TKO victory.
In the aftermath of the fight Williams was extremely critical of the performance of both the referee and fight promoters, and called for the British Boxing Board of Control to conduct an immediate investigation into the fight.Williams to lodge fight complaint. BBC Sport. 2 June 2008.Danny Williams Demands Investigation of Airich Bout – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com.6 February 2008.
Williams vs. McDermott Williams faced John McDermott at Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on 18 July 2008. Despite being deducted three points in rounds eleven and twelve, he defeated McDermott in a majority points decision.
Williams vs. Sosnowski He was due to face John McDermott in a rematch at York Hall on 8 November 2008, but McDermott withdrew due to a rib injury. Williams also faced a bout with Francois Botha on 30 November 2008 in Egypt. Polish fighter Albert Sosnowski was called in as a late replacement for McDermott.
Williams vs. McDermott II Williams suffered a shock defeat by 8th-round TKO and as a result the Botha fight was called off. The McDermott rematch was finally arranged for 2 May 2009 in a defence of the British Heavyweight Championship belt that Williams held. Williams won the match in a points victory over McDermott.
Prizefighter Williams took part in the Prizefighter tournament on 2 October 2009. In the run up to the tournament Williams said he would knock out Audley Harrison and show himself as the best British heavyweight. In his first bout on the night, Carl Baker from Sheffield beat Williams on points after knocking him down twice in the opening round.
Resumed reign as British champion Williams vs. Chisora