Welterweight Boxer Paul Williams was recently left paralyzed after a serious motorcycle accident and physicians are unsure whether the popular boxer will walk again.
The boxer was injured on May 25 in the Atlanta area. The motorcycle crash happened when the boxer attempted to avoid an oncoming car after moving away from another car in the lane next to him. It appears that this is one of the many motorcycle accidents that happen every day due to the failure of car drivers to see motorcyclists, although all of the details of the crash have not been reported.
Currently the boxer is paralyzed from the waist down but it is unclear whether this paralysis is permanent. The 30-year-old boxer recently underwent surgery to stabilize his spine. Williams’ doctor said that his spine was fused.
“There’s no evidence of any severing; he had a fracture of his spine,” Williams’ doctor said. “The fracture is of the bone. The bone encircles the spinal cord. The spinal cord was injured and that interferes with the transmission of nerves from above to below.”
Williams’ Sept. 15 fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has been canceled according to Williams’ trainer. “He’s in very good spirits, though,” the trainer added. “He still believes he’s going to fight again.”
Source: Los Angeles Times, “Paul Williams paralyzed following motorcycle crash,” Austin Knoblauch, May 29, 2012; Associated Press, “Paul Williams’ future uncertain,” June 13, 2012
