See Paul Williams strut his stuff Saturday night

See for yourself on Saturday night on HBO. Is it fair to compare Paul Williams to Hitman Hearns, or is that virtual sacrilege at this juncture, comparing an untested fighter against the Hall of Fame talent, the Motor City Cobra?

Standing a lanky 6-foot-1 and 147 pounds with knockout power in both hands, Paul Williams (29-0, 21 KOs) is being portrayed by some partisan sorts as boxing’s next Thomas Hearns.

The southpaw Williams will be featured in his biggest fight to date on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” series, telecast from The Home Depot in Carson, CA, in a 12-round WBC (USNBC) and WBO (NABO) welterweight championship bout against another unbeaten, the Argentine knockout artist, Walter Matthysse (25-0, 24 KOs).

“We definitely have things in common,” Williams said of the Hearns comparisons. “Like him at welterweight, I am the tallest in the weight class. We both have long reach and tremendous power. The major differences are that he used his right hand and I use my left. Also, I am more elusive than he was. And Thomas liked to stay on the outside and I like to fight either inside or outside.”

What I’ve seen of Williams, which ain’t much, I was tremendously impressed. That reach is superlative. I like his movement, his thoughtfulness in the ring, his command of the turf as he works his trade. Is he a Hitman clone? Well, he better step on it and move onward and upward if he doesn’t want that comparison to be just a publicists’ ego stroke. An overwhelming performance on Saturday night would be a great start…

(Email news tips to Michael Woods at Fightwrite@gmail.com)