When the World Colored Middleweight Championship was revived in the early 1940s, Charley Burley, who had been the colored welterweight champ, fought Williams for the title on 14 August 14, 1942 and won on a 9th round TKO.
John Williams | Robin Williams | Robbie Williams | Tennessee Williams | Williams College | Ralph Vaughan Williams | Ted Williams | Vanessa L. Williams | William Carlos Williams | Hank Williams, Jr. | Hank Williams | Don Williams | Williams | William Holman Hunt | Shirley Williams | Lucinda Williams | Andy Williams | Victoria Williams | Serena Williams | Brian Williams | Vanessa Williams | Esther Williams | Paul Williams | Bert Williams | Rowan Williams | Hype Williams | Wendy O. Williams | Michael K. Williams | John Williams (composer) | Clough Williams-Ellis |
Among the fighters who "ducked" Burley were Hall of Famers Billy Conn (who fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title), Frenchman Marcel Cerdan (who was supposed to face Burley in his American debut), Jake LaMotta (who had fought the likes of powerpuncher Bob Satterfield, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Holman Williams, who was Burley's greatest rival), and even Sugar Ray Robinson, considered by many boxing historians as the best pound-for-pound fighter of all time.