Interview Dated August 2004

Billy Willis

Billy "Third Ward" Willis is a bruising Houston heavyweight. Beginning with an amateur record of 18-9, Willis amassed an eye-catching 57-1-1 unofficial club match record. As a pro since August of '03, the 5'11, 222 lb. powerhouse has carved out a record of 3-2, with 3 knockouts. I caught up with the 30-year-old potential contender on the morning he had been scheduled to fight his sixth bout, August 7th. The night before, the card had been cancelled just prior to the official weigh-in. So Billy "Third Ward" Willis returned the next morning, to the Progressive Amateur Boxing Association, on Elgin and Dowling. It's the same gym he's been coming to for the last 17 years.

HBScene -Why'd you get into boxing?

BW - My mom put me into boxing. I wasn't always the initiator of the fights but I used to get into fights at school. My mom put me in a karate class and took it for about a month. Then I started coming to P.A.B.A. I got attached to it. I even stopped playing football because I got so attached to boxing.

HBScene - What is it that you like about it that's kept you in it so long.

BW - I like contact sports. A lot of times when I have a lot of aggression built up it's a good place to come and release that without getting into trouble.

HBScene - There's a lot of names you could've come up with rather than just picking where you're from. How'd you come up with that?

BW - Fighting in the club, I was fighting in the underground fights it was a name they gave to me and I just held on to it.

HBScene - When did you start doing the club fights?

BW - It was in 2001.

HBScene - Okay you're talking about having more than 50 fights in 3 years. (Laughing nervously)--You've been keeping pretty busy more or less.

BW - You may fight twice in one night.

HBScene - What's the difference between this club fighting and a regular pro bout?

BW - A club fight is more of a street fight. You get in there and you brawl. But in boxing you have to sit back and think about what you're going to do before you swing.

HBScene - Were the rules any looser in those club fights?

BW - No, you still can't hit below the belt and behind the head.

HBScene - So as a pro you've knocked out three guys but you've lost a couple bouts. Tell me about your first fight.

BW - It was some guy from San Antonio. I stopped him in the second round.

HBScene- You're a power puncher. You're not a finesse boxer. Would that be a fair statement?

BW - When I first started out I threw a lot of power punches but I've been trying to get into the finesse stage.

HBScene - You've knocked out a lot of people in your day haven't you.

BW - Yes. I have.

HBScene - (Laughing nervously again) --Okay, I knocked out a couple of guys but I just sort of overwhelmed them. I never had the lethal power you do so it's kind of a different experience. Say for example the first knockout you ever had, what was going through your mind when that happened?

BW - My first was in '93 in the Golden Gloves. It was exciting. I had to calm myself down because of all that excitement.

HBScene - A lot of adrenaline.

BW - Yeah.

HBScene - So last night you're all set to fight a guy and it gets yanked out from under you.

BW - When they told us they had an announcement that was coming I felt the bad feeling, I knew it wasn't good. I still want to fight though. I'm not going to let that get me off track.

HBScene - So you've had a couple pro losses. What happened there?

BW - I lost to a couple of guys out of Dallas. It was pretty much on my part for not training the way I should have. I was able to go the distance but I didn't throw as many punches should have thrown to win the fight.

HBScene - So you'd probably like to get up against someone before too long.

BW - I'm not sure when my next fight is, but whenever it is, I'll be ready.


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6-22-06

Billy Willis is a classic slugger After compiling an amateur record of 18-9, Willis amassed an eye-catching 57-1-1 unofficial club match record. As a pro since August of '03, the 5'11, 222 lb. powerhouse was one of the first people interviewed for Houston Boxing Scene two years ago. His pro career has since taken him around the country, and into the ring against some very tough fighters. It hasn't been easy, but the soft-spoken 32-year-old has persevered, most recently capturing the Texas Cruiserweight title with a 9th round knockout of "Wild, Wild, Wes", Wesley Martin, in Kileen, Texas on May 20th. He's 7-7-1 with 6 KO's. One thing you can say for certain about a Billy Willis fight. Whether he wins or loses, it won't be dull. Willis is in training to defend his title in July. I spoke with him after a recent workout at the Prince Gym on Houston's near north side.

HBS - You just finished a pretty tough workout, how do you feel?

BW - I feel great, I feel good. It started off kind of slow because I missed the last two days but it felt pretty good.

HBS - The last time I saw you fight was a real good fight against that guy Agustin Corpus from Mexico, at Texas Southern University (June 17th, 2005. Willis lost a majority decision). Tell us what you think happened in that fight.

BW - I felt I fought pretty good. You know a lot of fighters feel like they fought pretty good when they're inside the ring, that's what you have a cornerman for. That was the reason for switching up on my cornerman so I can step up in my game a little bit. I thought it was a pretty good fight. I would love to fight him again but there's a chance for that to happen somewhere along the line if he gets a championship but I thought the fight went pretty good. There were some things that I needed to brush up on and make a little better.

HBS - What were the things that you think you needed to improve on?

BW - Do a lot more movement and getting off on combinations instead of throwing just one and two punches at a time, you know letting them go in bunches.

HBS - He was a pretty strong guy. Did he surprise you with how strong he was?

BW - I wouldn't say he surprised me with how strong he was, it was just the way he was throwing his punches. I never fought a guy that threw punches to the top of the head. He threw a lot of punches to the top of the head. He wasn't really aiming for the chin. He'd punch to the top of the head then he'd go to my body. That was awkward. Instead of going to the chin he was going to my temple.

HBS - Then you had kind of a rough patch (losing three more in a row). You fought this guy Manley (August 6th 2005, Lula, Mississippi), he was undefeated (8-0-1), another close fight (majority decision, Manley). What happened there?

BW - It was a pretty good fight. I was letting my punches go in bunches. It was just that after he'd throw his combinations he'd lay on me and when he laid on me I didn't throw any punches back. I just laid there and waited for the referee to break us up. That's on me. I should have een trying to throw some kind of flurries or something, instead I just waited for the ref to break us up.

HBS - Then you fought Andrew Greeley (August 20th 2005, Dallas Unanimous six-round decision, Greeley). What happened with him?

BW - Oh Greeley was a strong guy. He was real strong, he threw a lot of bombs and I felt I threw combinations, that's what I felt but my corner says they said different but I felt I won that fight. That was a pretty close fight, to me. That wasn't the way the judges saw it.

HBS - Then you fought another undefeated guy (Matt Godfrey (9-0) , November 23rd 2005, Providence, Rhode Island). So you're like the classic embodiment of a journeyman fighter because you literally journey to go fight. What happened there?

BW - Godfrey was real slick. He would throw punches and then slip off of it. It wasn't easy to get a clean punch on him. But when I did get a clean punch on him he stayed off of me and it was kind of too late in the rounds. He was already up on points and it was too late for me to come back. I had to get a knockout and I was unable to do it.

HBS - Then you went to Illinois and you had a draw against a guy with a pretty good record. (Chris Thomas, 16-4-1, Harvey Illinois, December 10th, 2005). What happened there?

BW - He was ranked number 10 at the time, cruiserweights, that was a real big fight for me. I went to Chicago, a place I've never been and fought a guy with a style that I've never faced before. He was pretty tall and kept his jab in my face and pretty good combinations. I got my timing down pretty good and I hurt him three different times in three different rounds and I felt that I pulled that one off but I guess the judges didn't give it to me because I didn't knock him out. But I did an outstanding job. I say so and so does my trainer and my manager.

HBS - Then you fought Hector Ferreyo (March 10th, 2006, Texas Heavyweight Championship, McAllen Texas), and you lost a split decision.

BW - Oh, that could have went either way, you know Hector Ferreyo, he wasn't a slick fighter, nor was he a strong fighter. You know, he was just, going back to the same thing earlier in my fights, me not letting off combinations. It wasn't a knockdown. He hit me, I slipped, then my glove touched the ground so they considered it a knockdown. I didn't go all the way down but it's still a knockdown either way and I guess that's what gave him the split decision. I feel like I fought a pretty good fight.

HBS - Then Wesley Martin you fought recently in Killen and you knocked him out.

BW - Oh, man, to be honest I went into the fight kind of taking it for granted because he had 50 losses you know and I'm like "I can take this cat real quick", but it was different. He was an old fighter but he was kind of slick. When I thought he was hurt he wasn't. He hit me and tried to hurt me but I came back to prevail and it was a pretty good fight.

HBS - Tell us how the knockout occurred.

BW - He was a southpaw so in practice, my trainer was telling me to stay to my left and throw my right hand and left hook and come back with combinations. I was faking with my jab a couple of times and in the eights rought I hurt him and the bell rung. We only had a minute in between rounds and that minute wasn't long enough for him to recover I felt so I was listening to my cornerman and at the same time looking across at him and it took him some extra time for him to get up off the seat so I was like, "Man I could take this kid", and you know when the bell rung for the ninth round I went out and gave it my all and stopped him.

HBS - You just jumped all over him and threw a barrage of punches?

BW - Yeah, because I felt he wasn't ready. He was still discombobulated. The referee didn't want to stop it. he separated us and when he separated us he pushed Wesley to the corner and he was hanging on the ropes and the ref said "Fight", while he was still hanging on the ropes. I was going, "Is this for real?"

HBS - Because you were thinking you could seriously hurt him?

BW - Oh, for sure. I'm not in it for that.

HBS - You're one of those guys who's not afraid to fight anybody. Tell us about your philosophy, as you examine the progress of your career.

BW - When I first started fighting I was with Roy Foreman and he had me 2-0 and I would say my pride, fighting the guy that I was fighting, I felt I was ready to step up on competition when really I wasn't. I took a fight that I shouldn't have fought (vs. Roderick Willis, (4-0-1), 257 lbs., January 2004, Houston, unanimous decision, Willis), and I took loss and I accepted that and Roy let me come back and I won one (3rd Round KO over Royphy Solieau on Jan. 27th. 2005 in Houston) then I took another fight (split decision loss to Dominic Jenkins, (2-1-1), April 16th, 2005, Houston), and I apologized to him, that's when he cut me off. I could have still been an undefeated fighter, on my way to fight for a championship, but me lettting my pride get in the way, it stopped me from doing that and I realized that before it's too late. I have seven losses but still I do still have a chance. About me fighting anyone, yeah, I still would fight anyone because I feel like I've stepped my game up to where I can fight anyone. It's just about preparing myself for the fight and doing all the right things that I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I'll still fight anybody.

HBS - What are you working on in the gym these days? Any particular skills or techniques?

BW - Just throwing my punches in bunches.

HBS - Do you have any idea who you're fighting next?

BW - Apparently there are two possibilities, either in the Valley or in Conroe on July 8th. I would like it to be in Conroe so some people from Houston could be there but we'll see.