Williams latest Las Vegan to claim a world championship

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Nov. 19, 1998 | 10:53 a.m.

He paid his dues.

And then he paid a little more.

In fact, Arthur Williams faced a virtual toll-booth succession of dues-paying interludes before the return he was looking for came his way.

Three weeks ago, at the age of 33, he became a legitimate world champion by defeating International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champ Imamu Mayfield in Biloxi, Miss. Williams stopped Mayfield in the ninth round, upping his record to 29-4-1 and easing a weighty burden that had been brought on by years of struggles with multiple managers and promoters.

He joins Vince Phillips (IBF junior welterweight), Floyd Mayweather (WBC junior lightweight), Frank Liles (WBA super middleweight) and Johnny Tapia (IBF junior bantamweight) as Las Vegas residents with world championships.

"I finally did it," Williams said this week at the Nevada Partners gym where he works out. "I wanted this day to come for so long."

He admits to having already watched the tape of his fight with Mayfield "at least 10 times," although he has his reasons.

"It was such a dream come true that I always want to look at it and make sure that's me standing there, holding up the belt," Williams said. "Every time I've watched it, it's brought tears to my eyes."

Given his background, he's entitled to be sentimental.

"I went through a lot," he said. "I've had a lot of obstacles. Maybe that's why winning the championship seems so exciting."

With that championship he has earned the right to be seen in a different, brighter, light. Now he's really King Arthur.

"I feel different and people are treating me different," Williams said. "People even look at me different now. They see what I achieved and most of them know it wasn't easy."

Despite being a top-10 fighter for a decade, the championship was elusive as Williams bounced from one manager and one promoter to another. He also lost two earlier title tries, one very disputed.

Yet throughout his career, Williams remained a decent man who has always been well liked by his peers. He also has been known to play the role of Good Samaritan, as letter writer Howard DeYoung pointed out to this newspaper a few years ago.

DeYoung, along with his wife and 5-year-old son, had a flat tire on Decatur Blvd. one night and had no spare. Williams, who was actually traveling in the opposite direction, backtracked and stopped to assist the DeYoungs. Refusing to accept anything for his efforts, Williams then drove the family to its home and then drove Howard DeYoung back to his Honda Civic with a spare tire he had in reserve in another Civic.

Perhaps winning the IBF championship was Williams' delayed reward.

"There were times it seemed it would never happen," he said.

Among those times: When he lost to journeyman Sim Warrior at the Plaza in Las Vegas; when he lost a pair of fights, one by split decision, to then-champion Orlin Norris; and when he lost to the still undefeated Chris Byrd, who is now fighting as a heavyweight.

"I've fought a lot of tough guys and I never ducked anyone," Williams said. "I hope that makes me a marketable champion."

While he avenged the loss to Warrior, the decision loss to Norris still grates on him.

"I don't know if it was the politics of boxing because (promoter) Don King had Norris under contract, or if I was just robbed by the one judge (Patricia Jarman) who only gave me two rounds," Williams said. "But I felt there was some crookedness going on."

Williams, who was originally brought to Las Vegas and signed to a contract by Alex Fried, later fought for King. "But he kicked me to the curb and put me on the back burner," after losing the rematch to Norris, Williams said.

From there, Williams hooked up with an inexperienced managerial team that did little for him except line up a fight for a decent minor title, vs. former kick boxer Rick Roufus for the USBA belt in Puerto Rico. Williams won and then got on the phone to talk to a mid-level promoter, Murad Muhammad.

"I called Murad on my own and he agreed to promote me," Williams said. "Somehow he got me ranked No. 5 by the IBF right away, so I was thinking everything was going to be all right.

"But then Don King signed Mayfield and got him a title fight. It was like he was two steps ahead of me."

Williams, who had earlier pivotal wins against former champ Dwight Qawi and trial horse Steve Littles, didn't just bide his time while waiting for a shot at Mayfield. He took a fight with former champ Adolfo Washington through still another promoter, Cedric Kushner, and won that bout to move into the IBF's mandatory challenger's spot.

His fight with Mayfield went to purse bid, which was won by Muhammad.

They finally fought Oct. 30 in Biloxi on an ESPN card.

Williams was down in the sixth round but had Mayfield down in the fourth and ninth before the referee stopped the fight at 1:50 of the latter round.

"I was also down in the second but the referee made a mistake and called it a slip," Williams admitted. "Mayfield was pretty good and I give him a lot of credit, but I kept going to his body and I could hear him breathing hard. My confidence was building, especially after knocking him down and I told myself to keep working and keep my composure.

"At the end, I faked to the body and hit him with an overhand right. It was a great, great feeling to see the referee stop the fight."

His new IBF belt in tow, Williams retreated to his native Pensacola, Florida, for a few days before returning to Las Vegas last weekend. He's already back in the gym and hopes to be fighting again in two or three months, perhaps here or in Europe where the cruiserweights have some clout.

Either way, as a champion he'll do better than the $33,000 he received for taking on Mayfield.

"It didn't hit me for a while," he said of his newfound stature. "Even still, it's like 'Wow, world champion.' There are times I still can't believe it."