20-20 Hindsight: Williams, Mora Impress, Who's Next for Pavlik, De La Hoya?

I like to think I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. And boy, was I wrong about the fights this weekend - with the exception of Kelly Pavlik knocking out Gary Lockett, but I doubt even Lockett himself was surprised by that outcome.

Let's start with Paul Williams' emphatic avenging of his defeat at the hands of Carlos Quintana. I really did think Williams was the better fighter overall, but my lousy luck with picking losing fighters to win in rematches plus my belief that The Punisher couldn't hurt Quintana made me pick against him.

That turned out to be wrong in a big way. Williams hurt Quintana the first time he got inside, then knocked him silly with a left hand. The champ made it to his feet but never looked like he regained his senses, and Williams made sure he never made it out of the first round.

The Punisher's eye-opening display made it easy to believe him in the post-fight interview when he said Quintana simply caught him on a bad night the first time around. You'd like to think he's back on track for big things at 147, like facing the winner of July's meeting between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito (who Williams has already beaten).

In his own way, Sergio Mora was equally impressive. He doesn't have a very fan-friendly style, but he's slippery enough to befuddle a veteran like Vernon Forrest and he showed some pop (if not KO power) to both the head and the body.

Mora also answered any questions about his ability to go 12 rounds by taking over the late rounds against Forrest. The fight was close enough that I thought he may get tripped up by the judges, but they turned in fairly sensible scorecards that may have provided Mora with a ticket to a big payday.

That's because experts like Dougie Fischer of MaxBoxing.com are already speculating that Mora may end up fighting Oscar De La Hoya later this year. The Golden Boy is, of course, lacking an opponent for the fall now that Floyd Mayweather is at least temporarily retired, and the Latin Snake seems like a guy who would fit the desired risk-reward ratio perfectly.

Like Williams, Mora also made me look bad by picking against him. I was fortunate not to make an official pick for Daniel Ponce De Leon's fight or I would have been 0-for-3 in non-Pavlik fights on Saturday. That's manning up. My hat's off to my brother Uatu, though, as he once again showed his stuff by getting all of his predictions correct. Kudos.

Speaking of Pavlik, all of the speculation after his easy dismissal of Lockett seemed to focus on a possible fight with Joe Calzaghe. Assuming he wasn't affected by stepping up in weight, he's plenty good enough to take that fight next. But I want to side with those who think he should take care of all the legitimate challengers at his current weight first. That could mean Arthur Abraham (assuming he gets past Edison Miranda again in a few weeks) or Winky Wright in a match-up of contrasting styles that could be interesting.