Roy "Tiger" Williams vs. Ron Lyle

[The ORIGINAL Irish JQ]

Somehow, among the "Golden Era" of Heavyweights, these two tough-guys never fought.


Who would have won?

[Ronald Lipton]

To put it simply,

Ron Lyle.

[StingerKarl]

Lyle wins here
We agreed Ron!
Karl

[blv30]

Did Roy ever meet up with George Foreman?

[naf2003]

I never got to see Roy Williams fight.

From what I have read he was feared or avoided by most of the fighters of his era. He never fought George Foreman, but in Zaire, Ali sparred with Williams and told the media that Williams was bigger, stronger, tougher, and hit harder than Foreman. Probably hyperbole, but who knows?

I read in Larry Holmes book that Williams thought that Ali owed him money and that he and Ali sparred 10 rounds two days in a row, both trying to hurt the other and at the end, Ali paid Williams what Williams wanted.

I also read that Earnie Shavers said something like, he wouldn't drive through Philadelphia because he didn't want to take a chance on running into Williams.

I have tried to find video of Williams but have not had any luck. He was definitely respected by the contenders of the day. Holmes mentions him often in his book.

Williams did lose to Shavers and Holmes in tough fights. I read somewhere that he had Shavers in big trouble a few times in the fight. Maybe he was just a tough sparring partner type or maybe he could have been a top contender with proper training and conditioning.

[blv30]

I read somewhere that Roy and Jeff Merritt had a fight early in their careers.Anyone ever see it?

[Randineous]

Naf, Earnie Shavers talked briefly about his fight with Williams in a book called "Facing Ali". I'll offer a quote from Shavers from that book;

"Ali had a sparring partner named Roy "Tiger" Williams. He said, 'If you beat Tiger Williams, I'll give you a shot.' I knew Tiger Williams. He was a tough, tough guy. So I made my mind up I would knock this guy out. We took the fight, I trained hard. The first eight rounds, I was ahead on points. He came back in the ninth and the beginning of the tenth, and damned near destroyed me. But I knew I had to win for the Ali fight. They gave me a standing eight count, asked me questions, asked my name, where I was fighting, who I was fighting? I said Las Vegas, Earnie Shavers, Roy Williams. So I knew then, I had to go on the chin and stop him. He came forward toward me and I stepped in and hit him on the chin and I hurt him. And that's when God gave me the strength, and I stopped him."

[bodyblow]

I read in a book, cant remember which, that Ali used to abuse Williams physically (in sparring) and verbally in camp. Williams was always known as a very grumpy, tempermental person and the author surmised that much of this had to do with treatment he recieved at the hands of Ali. Might have been Ghosts of Manila but not sure, great book though.

[PeteLeo]

My buddy Steve has the Earnie Shavers-Roy Williams bout on tape. It is a doozy, especially in that last round. PeteLeo.

[blv30]

Looking at it now, I think Roy would be destroyed by Ron in 2 to 3 rounds.He's not on Ron's level as a fighter, and he wouldn't be able to intimidate Ron, so what little advantage he had is nullified.

[KOJOE90]

Do you guys think that Tiger Williams had a somewhat 'sparring partner' mentality'? and with different management etc could have achieved more?

As for these two scary dudes facing each other? I pick Lyle by late TKO or maybe points over 12. Lyle had everything Williams had with a bit more skill (although Williams may have had a better chin?).

Also can you imagine if these two had been locked up together in the same prison? Yikes!!!!