Sunday afternoon, decked out in a shirt, tie and dark suit, he’ll be battling Satan from the pulpit of a Conners Street church in West Dayton. An ordained minister — he’s the associate pastor of Choice International Family Outreach Worship Center — he said his sermon will be entitled “The Fight is Not Mine.”
Williams truly is The Punchin’ Preacher.
Over the years a few other pugs have embraced the Lord as much as a good left hook.
Two-time heavyweight champ George Foreman retired from the game during his prime and became a preacher, only to return to boxing and reclaim the crown at age 45.
Former junior middleweight champ Yuri Foreman — the Lion of Zion, the first Israeli to ever hold a world title — is studying to be a rabbi.
And when he was middleweight champ, Tiger Flowers might not have been a minister, but he was known as The Georgia Deacon and recited Psalm 144 before every bout.
As for Williams, if you saw him in Drake’s Gym — an intense presence wearing a head wrap and a sweat-drenched T-shirt over a sinewy frame — you’d never guess he lives in a parsonage and does church outreach programs with the elderly and young children.
“He’s absolutely dedicated and extremely intense,” said gym owner John Drake. “Sometimes we have to dial him back.”
The 31-year-old Williams said he once weighed 215 pounds and was quite familiar with vices of the street. Now he doesn’t even eat meat.
His diet?
“A lot of broccoli, cauliflower, cranberries, blueberries, and I drink lots of water,” he shrugged.
To say Williams has made a life change is an understatement.
He grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and played football at Cleveland High. Although his father was a minister, he said he chose a divergent path.
“You know the stereotype of a preacher’s kid,” he smiled. “I was that 10 times over.
“I got caught up with some older (guys) in gangs and though I wasn’t part of it, there was guilt by association. I began to get into things like drugs and almost caught a case, and finally my dad said ‘Enough is enough.’ He gave me an ultimatum. He was either kicking me out of the house or he’d send me to live with my cousin in Ohio.
“I came out here when I was 17. My cousin went to Wilberforce and I got accepted there, too. But I was still young and dumb, and eventually I quit and just kind of hung out partying on the streets of Xenia and Dayton.”
Finally some friends from Wilberforce kept asking him to come along to church.
“I got tired of them buggin’ me so I finally decided to go to get them off my back,” he said. “But when I went, the message touched my heart. And from that day forward my life changed. Gradually the things that I did — smoking weed, smoking cigarettes — fell off, and for the last 10 years I’ve had no alcohol or drugs.”
Several years ago, he heard Prophet Antoine Jasmine speak. A connection was made, and today Williams is part of Jasmine’s Choice International church, which also has a branch in Louisiana.
Along with his pastoral duties, Williams works for Greene Tool Systems and is a fixture at Drake’s.
“I came to the gym because it brought a level of focus and discipline to my life, but I found more than that,” he said. “There’s a sense of family, a real brotherhood.”
Every Friday night, Williams and heavyweight Austin Wing join fellow fighter Ray Smith at his St. Clair loft apartment across from the gym. They get the grill going and watch the fights on TV. They call it Fight Night.
The only thing better is starring in their own Fight Night, especially this Saturday night’s free outdoor show, which last summer drew some 2,500 people.
“When you’re up there in front of the crowd, you really want to give them something special,” Williams said.
He was talking about Saturday night, though it will be the same for him Sunday afternoon, too. He said the gist of his sermon may be that “all things are possible as long as you have Jesus Christ.”
Of course, some Saturday nights, a good left hook helps as well.
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