There’s some fight left in boxing

Boxing did itself proud Saturday night, as only boxing can. It put on a good fight and got lots of good anger afterward.

On a tennis court, at a place where a bunch of freeways meet, across the way from a soccer stadium, with 8,000 screaming fans yelling their guts out and a couple of them throwing some punches of their own, the sport got a coming-out party from Paul Williams.

In the main event at the Home Depot Center, Williams took the World Boxing Organization’s welterweight title from Antonio Margarito, the Tijuana tough guy. The decision was unanimous and, afterward, Margarito called it “robbery” and added that “everybody here knows I won.”

Ah, controversy. Could we have it any other way? This is a sport created to fight with itself, for itself and among itself. The best punches are often thrown outside the ring.

Afterward, Williams, a nice young man from Augusta, Ga., who, at 25, has yet to lose a pro fight, said he wanted a shot at Miguel Cotto, the World Boxing Assn. welterweight champion most in demand now. Cotto is promoted by Bob Arum, who said that that isn’t going to happen, that he will shortly put together a match between Cotto and Shane Mosley.

“Much more attractive fight,” Arum said.

Arum said another reason he won’t toss Williams in with Cotto right away is that he didn’t think Williams won the fight. Oh yes, lest we forget, Arum also promotes Margarito.

So, we had controversy after the controversy. In sports, this is unusual. In boxing, it is the norm, the way business is done.

What Arum might have said was that Williams, promoted by Dan Goossen, might be too much of a handful for Cotto, or for anybody in the 147-pound weight class. He is listed at 6 feet 2, is probably closer to 6-4, looks exactly like Lamar Odom of the Lakers, and moves and punches and takes shots like somebody who will have a long-term impact in the sport.

Williams is all arms and still not the least bit awkward.

The 5-11 Margarito, at age 29 in his 40th pro fight, after 21 as an amateur, did his best to get at Williams, even though, when he started moving in, his head seemed to fit nicely under Williams’ chin. Most of the night, Margarito resembled somebody trying to walk into a fan turned up to full speed and punch out the motor in the center.

By the time he got there, he was pretty well battered. But he always seemed to leave smiling. Williams would hit him four or five times and Margarito would smile. He has perfected the art of shrugging with his mouth.

“He threw more punches than I did, I know that,” Margarito said. “But he didn’t hit me with many. I landed more. It was robbery.”

Turns out, Williams threw 1,256 punches, second-most ever in the welterweight division. He connected with 288, or 23%. Margarito connected on 181 of 652, or 28%. Now there’s the kind of action boxing loves -- 1,908 punches thrown.

Both these guys needed to leave the ring with their arms in ice.

When it was over, Williams, a former sparring partner of Margarito, gave the dethroned champion some respect, with some nice imagery.

“He was like a [John] Deere tractor, the way he kept coming forward,” Williams said.

He also admitted that, after piling up a big lead in the early rounds, that he had to “suck it up” and also admitted that Margarito got to him several times.

“I definitely got stunned,” Williams said.

Of course, this being boxing, he also gave his view of the night, and it was, of course, controversial.

“I really didn’t think the fight was as close as a couple of judges had it,” he said.

One judge had it 116-112, two others 115-113.

There was no final card available on the two guys who went at it in the stands. But you can rest assured boxing was happy they were up there, flailing away.

And then, the final moment of greatness. In a late news conference, Margarito accused Goossen of having an influence over the judges. Arum stepped in and said that was unfair. Priceless.

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Bill Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com. For previous columns, go to latimes.com/dwyre.