Street Fighting Man : Heavyweight Jeremy Williams Has Taken Some Hard Shots Inside the Ring and Out on the Streets

Jeremy Williams’ life in the boxing ring is not much different from his life on the streets.

“I’ve had my head busted open in a street fight,” Williams said. “I’ve had my teeth chipped, eyes bloodied, my back cut with a knife. I’ve been jumped just because I had been in the wrong neighborhood or whatever.”

Williams began boxing professionally in 1992. In reality, he started practicing his trade much earlier on the mean streets of Long Beach.

“I remember when I was 12 years old, I looked out the window and I would see some guy shooting heroin,” he said. “I think that, and waking up on Christmas and not having any presents, that’s where my anger comes from.”

Williams is only 21, but he has the savvy of a veteran when he steps into the ring. On Friday night at the Olympic Auditorium, he is scheduled to meet “Smokin’ ” Bert Cooper in a 10-round heavyweight bout.

After losing a 12-round decision to Larry Donald on March 12 in Las Vegas, Williams’ career has taken on a sense of urgency. It was Williams’ first loss in 16 pro fights and it cost him the World Boxing Council Continental Americas title.

“I’ve learned to take my career seriously,” Williams said. “I took it seriously, but I didn’t take it a step further. In some ways, losing to Donald was a good thing because it showed me how important it is to take things one at a time and to take every fight seriously.”

After the loss, Williams left manager Bill Cayton, who guided Mike Tyson early in his career. He also changed trainers, opting for Joe Goossen over his father, Charles Williams.

Goossen began working with Williams before a May bout against Andrew Stokes at the Olympic.

“I really thought he was just a head-down winning brawler,” Goossen said. “Jeremy gets in there and bangs with anybody. Unfortunately, that’s not always the right thing to do. But what I found out is that he is a legitimate athlete.”

So did Stokes.

Williams knocked out the journeyman in 39 seconds of the first round. After breaking a clinch, Williams threw a short right hook to the head that sent Stokes reeling to the canvas.

“I wanted to show all that Donald stuff wasn’t me,” Williams said.

Williams (16-1, 13 knockouts) is now training in Big Bear with World Boxing Organization lightweight champion Oscar de la Hoya, junior-lightweight Gabriel Ruelas, International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas and former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe.

“He is unbelievably hard to hit, very fast hands,” Goossen said. “I’ve been working on shortening up his punches, putting more combinations together and using his legs a little bit more. . . . He’s been kind of a surprise.”

Williams came within a victory of making the 1992 U.S. Olympic boxing team but lost to Montel Griffin in a light-heavyweight bout. Williams had beaten Griffin in the Olympic trials, but lost two decisions at the team box-offs.

Williams was so upset about failing to make the team that he knocked over a table with a lectern and microphones during the post-fight news conference. He then went into a minute-long tirade against the tournament organizers.

When he returned to Long Beach, trouble was around the corner. Fellow boxer Tyrone White was shot to death in September, 1992, after a fight at a hamburger stand.

“Some guy started talking beef, and he came over to me, since I was the biggest,” he said. “I hit him and he fell and then I jumped on his friend, who was much bigger than we were. And the guy that I first hit pulled out a gun and aimed at me and shot Tyrone.

“Tyrone fell. When I looked up, the guy was plugging him with like four more shots.”

Williams attributes much of his troubles to involvement with gangs. His older brothers Eric and Jason were gang members, and Jeremy followed their lead.

“I’m not gonna tell you what’s right or what’s wrong,” he said. “I’m gonna tell you from my example. My two older brothers have been in prison all their life.

“Watching my brothers, I said, ‘OK, well maybe they just didn’t do it right,’ ” he said. “So when I did it, I got stabbed, I got shot at. I was in a car going off to a club and the guy next to me got shot in the back, through the car door.

“If that’s what you want to do with your life, hell, go do it. But what I’m saying is that you will be a knucklehead like me.”

After the death of White, Williams signed a four-year contract with Cayton and began training with Kevin Rooney in Catskills, N.Y. Williams was heralded as the next Tyson and won his first 13 professional bouts, including the WBC Continental Americas belt.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Williams grew tired of the comparisons to Tyson and left Rooney to return to Long Beach, where he worked out with his father.

After losing to Donald, Williams decided to leave Cayton and is trying to get a release from his contract.

Williams, who also is a model and actor, said his days of getting in trouble are in the past and that he has become more responsible since the birth of his sons--16-month-old Tyler and 8-month-old Iman. Three years ago, Williams became a Muslim and changed his name to Abdul Malik, although he still fights under his birth name.

The plan for Williams is to fight four bouts at the Olympic before returning to center stage in Las Vegas. He wants to fight for a heavyweight title but said he isn’t ready to take on Tyson if the former champion is released from jail.

“What for? Tyson’s gonna break somebody’s neck and it ain’t gonna be mine,” Williams said.