Williams wins Golden Gloves tourney's first round

Courtesy Ralph Salomon

Courtesy Ralph Salomon

A trainer wrapped Williams’s hand in preparation for the Golden Gloves bout on Feb. 23.

Courtesy Ralph Salomon

Williams, left, won the 2012 Golden Gloves’ first bout, against Marlon Brown, by technical knockout.

Courtesy Ralph Salomon

Titus Williams, right, beat longtime rival Marlon Brown in the first round of the New York Daily News Golden Gloves tournament Feb. 23 in Staten Island.

Courtesy Ralph Salomon

Local boxing coach Sam Jackson, left, Titus Williams, Herve Duroseau and Kaliym Quik Muhammad.

Courtesy Kaliym Quik Muhammad

Courtesy Titus Williams

Titus Williams, in yellow, beat longtime rival Marlon Brown in the first round of the New York Daily News Golden Gloves tournament, held Feb. 23 in Staten Island. Courtesy Titus Williams

Courtesy Titus Williams

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Titus Williams, 22, of Elmont, won a first-round bout in the 132-pound division of the 2012 New York Daily New Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament on Feb. 23 at the Parisi Speed School in Staten Island, defeating longtime rival Marlon Brown of Rockaway Ropes.

The two boxers know each other well. Williams and Brown went head to head in the New York Metropolitan Championships on Dec. 9, which Williams won in a 4-1 decision. Last August, they fought in the semifinals of the Long Island Amateur tournament. Although Brown — who won the Golden Gloves lightweight title in 2010 — was favored to win the Long Island tournament, Williams won every round in a 5-0 decision.

The third round of their latest bout was stopped short — after only one minute — by the doctor overseeing it, due to a bleeding cut above Brown’s left eye. Williams was declared the winner by technical knockout.

“I engaged in throwing more combinations early in the round, which led to [the] cut,” Williams explained. “I felt a little bad about the way it ended, but that’s how boxing goes sometimes. It comes with the territory. A win is a win at the end of the day.”

Williams advanced to the second bout of the Golden Gloves tournament, scheduled for March 8, at World Wide Boxing Gym in the Bronx.

He has been working with trainer Joe Higgins at the Freeport Police Athletic League Boxing Club for nearly two years. “Coach Joe always [assures] me that I should be confident in my conditioning and my skills,” he said. “We are confident that we will make it to the finals and win the Golden Gloves this year.”

Four days after the Golden Gloves bout, on Feb. 27, Williams competed in the first round of the amateur USA Boxing National Championships, in Colorado Springs. Despite a hard-fought bout against Sonny Frederickson, of Toledo, Ohio, Williams lost by one punch, according to the judges. He was down 11-10 after the first round of the bout, and came back by the end of the bout to tie with Frederickson, 33-33. 

To determine a winner, judges referred to Level 1 tie-breaker scoring, which evaluates a bout by the number of punches thrown by each boxer. According to the judges, Williams had thrown only 98, and Frederickson threw 99.

Williams won't get another chance to compete at the Olympics.