Boxing: Williams' chance to revive career

Danny Williams was just one fight away from his first £1m outing, but now he is just one fight away from boxing's breadline.

Tomorrow night at the Fountain Leisure Centre in Brentford Williams will try to salvage a frustrating career when he defends his Commonwealth heavyweight title against the tall but crude Australian Bob Mirovic.

In February, Williams travelled to Berlin and was knocked out in six rounds by Sinan Samil Sam in a challenge for the European title. For Williams it was both a bitter disappointment and a major setback because he was due to leave the European scene and embark on a short journey through the world's élite fighters.

The loss in Berlin meant that Williams was forced to return to London with echoes of derision in his ears from both Audley Harrison and Herbie Hide, and that short journey ends tomorrow night in the ring against Mirovic. A win will help Williams reach the point that he fell from on that painful night in Berlin.

"I have been forced to listen to both Harrison and Hide abusing me, but at the same time all efforts to get either of them in the ring have come to nothing,'' said Williams, whose dignity is a rare commodity in the heavyweight division of hype.

When the bell sounds tomorrow evening in front of a frantic crowd and the BBC's cameras, Williams should have little difficulty overcoming Mirovic, who is 37 years old and 6ft 5in, and the end should come before round seven starts. Back in 1998 Joe Bugner beat Mirovic by a split decision for something called the Australian heavyweight title.

At the same time as Williams is taking care of business in Brentford, another heavyweight from South London, Julius Francis, will be stepping into the ring with Sam at Schwerin in Germany for his attempt at winning the European title. Francis once beat Williams and also shared the ring briefly with Mike Tyson but it is likely that Sam will take care of him before the end of round eight.