Photo Courtesy of SnapLocally.com
This series is best if read in order. Below are parts I and II.
>7-30-09 Phil Williams Part II
The Drill Speaks – Part 3
On his Transformation, his Boxing, and his Purpose
By: Laura Zink
Photograph by: 13twentythree.com
After Phil Williams became his old high school’s mascot for a life gone wrong, Williams’ initial reaction was to laugh.
“I laughed at it,” Williams said. “I thought it was all funny, like I didn’t care. That’s how we reacted at the time, like ‘Ha, ha! They said they don’t want to end up like me.’ It was more of a status thing.”
At the time, the public branding of Phil Williams as a violent criminal by his old high school was not surprising. In fact, to Williams, the situation seemed inevitable due to the wide-spread media coverage of the event.
“I knew everyone was going to find out about it,” Williams explained. “My brother’s dad was calling from jail. My grandmother called…they could read all about it in the papers. They had me in there worse than it really was. They had me in there for a shooting incident that I didn’t even do, but because of my involvement with what was going on, they just threw my name in there as the primary suspect, saying that I was doing all of the shooting.
And did he actually participate in any part of the shootings which the media accused him of?
“I didn’t,” Williams stated. “My cousin got shot like 5 times. A girl got shot in the head…the one that got shot in the head was a stand-byer…and another got shot in the leg. And they had me in for all of it. I got blamed for shooting my cousin 5 times! They messed it all up in the paper, and so that was why I was in there laughing. As it happened, we got caught with one of the weapons, but the gun ended up not matching to the gun in the shootings. But with the news, they were so quick to write the story that they blamed me because I was the one that went to jail for it.”
So after the laughter subsided, Williams’ sentiments about this experience began to change. Here he was, just 18 years old, and he was already being written off by his old high school and the media as a hopeless case. It was around this time something set a fire under Williams.
“I just started getting a drive in me,” Williams remembered. “I don’t know if it was that I wanted to prove people wrong…because I remember when my principal had a meeting in the auditorium and told all the kids that they didn’t want to end up like Phil Williams, you know, ‘like him’…I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what they are talking about me.’ And so, I wanted to prove people wrong. If I can fight, what do you think that I can’t do? I think that’s my drive. I want to do something that you think I can’t do.”
With this new motivation, Williams started to change the way he approached his life. This transformation began when Williams returned to his education.
“So I went back to school,” Williams explained. “I went to an extra year of school. I went to night school and then I went to summer school…and I got my diploma. Then after that I went to barber school because I knew I could cut hair. I wanted to show people that I could do something. But my mom, she never came to my graduation. She didn’t know what barber shop I was working at either.”
In fact, Williams’ mother had begun to fall away, disappearing for days and weeks at a time, leaving Williams the primary caretaker of his half brother.
“There was times when I would come home, and the lights would be off, the water would be off… so I ended up being my brother’s guardian,” Williams remembered about that time. “And I signed on to become his guardian because there was nobody else home. There was nobody there to take over the deal. So I had to be in the streets. I had to do what I had to do, and that is what my brother was following…me doing that.”
And though he wasn’t always setting the best example for his half brother, he was the only adult in his half brother’s life. So when his 14 year old brother was about to be released from jail, 20 year old Williams had to go down to the courthouse and make a case that he could be held responsible for his sibling’s well-being.
“I was trying to go to meet with the counselors in court,” Williams explained, “Tim Alexander was the judge who let to get my brother out. And I remember that he asked, ‘Well, where is his mother?’ They said ‘They don’t know the whereabouts of his mother.’ Then he asked, ‘Where’s the father?’ ‘He’s locked up.’ And then he asked, ‘Well do we have anybody?’ And they said, ‘Well, we got his brother right here.” I remember that. It was because our mother walked out that made that judge release my brother. And after they released him, they came out with another warrant saying that he robbed somebody else. They wanted to take him back to jail. They kept him. He was 14. He pleaded guilty and ended up with a year and a half. He got out when he was 16. It happened all the time. All the times he would get sent back to jail, I had to be down there to represent him. His mom didn’t even know where he was at. I had the paperwork. My brother did 3 years at St. Cloud, and she didn’t know where he was at. She was staying in Indiana at the time, and we didn’t know it.”
Neither Williams nor his half-brother would know where their mother was for the next 6 years. But it was during this time that Williams began to return to his talents with a different level of dedication. At 20, he began working as a professional barber. Granted, he was still running into trouble here and there, mostly for minor weapons charges, and, of course, for fighting.
“I started working at the barber shop at 20,” Williams explained. “I went right to New Dimensions. For like the first year, I didn’t talk very much. I was trying to get my life together, and I didn’t want to really let the owner know that…you know. It was an older man who ran the shop. I didn’t want him to know that I was fighting. He eventually found out because a lot of stuff ended up happening in the shop. I think I had about 4 fights at that shop. Two fights inside the shop and two fights outside. And the two outside were right in front of it. It was like my outside life was coming into the shop.”
“It was about a year before my first fight in the shop,” Williams continued. “I ended punching this dude in the chair who was talking mess. He was talking mess to me outside the shop, and he ended up talking mess to me inside the shop, so I ended up punching him right in the chair…and I messed up my hand…that’s why I got these big knuckles. That’s where it came from. But then I thought to myself that if I’m already fighting, why not get paid for it, you know?”
That inquiry led Williams to Glover’s Gym where he began training with Papa Joe Daschkewitz.
“I went up to Glover’s, and that’s when I met Papa Joe,” Phil remembered. “He was Scott LeDoux’s trainer. I was just boxing and training for about 3 weeks, and he could see that I could box…that I had a natural ability. And he was like, ‘Have you boxed before?’ And I was like, ‘Nah.’ So one day he let me go into the ring and spar. I was sparring 2 weeks later with a pro named Quinton Osgood. He could see that I could fight. At first I was just street fighting, so I didn’t know how to go three minutes. I would just start throwing punches and trying to hurt the dude, but he saw something in me, like ‘Dude. This man can fight though. He needs to start getting his wind up and running miles.’ Then, I couldn’t run a mile. I would never run, but I started getting my wind because I kept sparring everyday.”
And as Williams was proving himself in the gym and trying to transform his street fighting into ring fighting, Williams got his first amateur fight. And while it was his first fight, Papa Joe wanted the records to show that Williams already had five.
“Papa Joe would see how good I was at boxing and he would say, ‘Well, you’re pretty good,’” Williams said. “So about 2 months after being at that gym, I had my first fight. But they didn’t want to have me fight as a novice. They wanted to have the doctor write that I had 5 fights. They wanted to throw me in open class right away because they thought that I was too advanced to be a novice.”
Williams first match would be against a kickboxer named Peyton Russel, a kickboxer who had Anthony Bonsante’s trainer, Bill Kaehne, in his corner.
“I lost that fight,” Williams admitted with a laugh. “So I lost the first amateur fight that I ever had. I was so frustrated because I thought that I could beat people. I was hitting him with the harder punches. I had his nose and mouth bleeding. But I didn’t have the conditioning to hold up for the whole three rounds. I had my hands down for the whole last round, and he was hitting me with clean punches and stuff. And after I got out of the ring, Fred Askew came up to me and said, ‘You did good in there, but you’ve got to get in condition. You can’t just go in there and street fight.’”
Williams took heed of the old Minnesota pro’s advice. He began more and more to focus on his training.
“After that, I started a whole new league,” Williams commented about his next amateur fights. “I beat everyone that I fought in Minnesota. I even came back and fought Peyton Russell my third fight. And I whooped him. I dropped him twice. I dropped him in the first round with a jab, and I dropped him in the second round with a left hook.”
After the Russell rematch, Williams fought at the amateur state championships in 2003, where, donning his new ring name, “The Drill,” he won the Minnesota State Amateur Championship. Williams went to the Amateur State Championships the following year and won the title again against Chad Tostenson. Unlike his fight with Tostenson in 2003, Williams wobbled him this time, earning Tostenson 2 standing 8 counts, which caused Williams to win an even more convincing decision over Tostenson than he did the previous year. Before the year was up, he fought Tostenson again at the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves in Hinckley, this time knocking him out in the third round with a right hook.
“That’s when I fell in love with my southpaw style,” Williams commented about the old victory.
He ascended to Nationals that year, the first day winning a 1st round KO against Philip Johnson, but losing a decision to Donyell Livingston of California on the second day.
“I went to the Nationals of Golden Gloves in Kansas City,” Williams said. I knocked the dude out in the first round in Kansas City the first night. The second night I lost to Donyell Livingston out of Oakland. That was my second loss. I never had the amateur style to fight. You know those pitty-pat punches? I was more of a set you up and catch you with hard, clean punches. And was not what the amateurs was about. When I lost the national tournaments, they were close decisions, but I never had the experience of fighting in the amateurs, so I was trying to fight like a pro in the amateurs.”
But back home in Minnesota by 2005, no one wanted to fight Williams for the amateur state title anymore. That year in Blaine at the USA Tournament, Williams was given the title just for showing up.
“I just had to walk in the ring and they gave me my title,” Williams said. “I just had to make weight. Everybody pulled out. Nobody wanted to fight me for that one. I just walked into the ring and got my title.”
He returned in 2005 to the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves tournament, this time showing the tendencies and ring style he would use as a professional. He won 2 knockout victories, one 2nd round KO against Collin Kelly and a 1st rounder against Patsadora.
But Nationals in Little Rock that year posed another pitty-pat problem. That year it came at the hands of then #1 ranked amateur, Edwin Rodriguez. Williams lost a decision to him on the first day.
“I was rushing for points. Trying to fight like an amateur,” Williams said about the bout. “It didn’t end up working out for me so I decided that I was going to turn pro. Put the small gloves on. I was ready to take the head gear off. And I fought my first fight in Duluth. I came in at 168, and Medina, he came in at 174. That’s why I don’t know why people say I couldn’t make 168. My first fight was at 168. I didn’t have to come down in weight. That was the weight that I came in at.”
Williams had that first fight in Duluth 28 years old. And a mere three fights later, Williams made headlines again. But this time, he got his television appearance for knocking out Brandon Burke in 10 seconds of the first round at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in June of 2006.
And as he stacked up 5 of first round knockouts in the beginning of his career, his experience with professional boxing still seemed slightly surreal.
“What started happening was that I started having a different focus,” Williams noted. “And a lot of my time was took up to go to work and to go to the gym and to go fight. And once I started winning, it started to feel more real because it didn’t feel real to me yet. I would still just come back after fights and do what I do now. I just thought that I was going to fight, BOOM, get a couple dollars, and that was it. Go Home. But after I lost the Oliveria fight was really what edged me to start training a little better. And this Echols fight is what really turned me on. Now I feel like a real professional fighter. I didn’t feel like a real professional fighter until like, really, now. And it still doesn’t seem real to me.”
“When I first started, I used to tell people, ‘Watch, I’m going to be the main event,” Williams said. “’I wanna be state champ. I wanna fight Zach Walters’…since my third fight. I knew I could do it, and people around me knew I could do it. But I am actually doing it now. The opportunity is there for me right now. The whole state is recognizing that. Now I am somebody to really worry about when it comes to boxing.”
And while his boxing career is beginning to provide Williams with the opportunities to really shine on the professional scene, Williams remains grounded. For Williams, the press, the publicity, the approbation, and the after-parties are not the reasons he chooses to fight. In fact, for Williams, those elements of the boxing game are actually a distraction from what really matters…and the real reason he is fighting.
“I don’t want to get caught up in that hype too much,” Williams commented. “That is why I stay away from it. I come right back to the city after I am done fighting. I don’t go out there and just start kicking it and hanging out because I don’t want to get lost in thinking that I’m some bigheaded star or something. I want to come back right to where I know that I’m more grounded. I come back to work the next day right after my fight. Win, lose, or whatever, I am at work the next day. Then I can be around people who I know are gonna love me regardless. Now matter what, if I still don’t do nothing, it’s ‘I love you.’”
“These people come to see me because they really care about me and not just what I can do for them,” Williams explained about his friends from the neighborhood. “None of them ask me for nothing. They just treat me like I’m one of them. And when I fight, they feel like they are a part of that. I mean, those people that come in the ring with me that all wear the same shirts. The last fight we came in with the Kingdom Cuts shirts, and most of our customers had them on. That’s because they are a part of me. We are a part of each other. So that’s why they come, and that’s why I do it – to let them know that they are a part of this. It’s not just me in here doing this. You are all following what I am doing. Y’all motivate me so I can do what I am doing so that I can show y’all that we can do something. There is a lot more that we can do. And when I talk to them, they listen more. Like, ‘You know that I am coming from the same thing that you are coming from, so whatever you want to do, do it. And go hard at it. Just start doing it. We got to live our life. We got to do something…something that you can be proud of, something that your kids can be proud of. You gotta be some type of role model for somebody.”
In fact, another one of the reasons Williams stays grounded is not just for his fans, it’s for his half-brother, “Rev”.
“My little brother has been in prison for the last 7 years, and he’s 25 years old,” Williams said. “And he’s in a federal joint. I wait on him to get out because that is my only brother. What I am doing out here is essentially trying to make something happen, so that when he gets out, he won’t have to go the route that he was going. He’s not used to me doing what I’m doing now. I’m being a lot more disciplined. He was following me, and that led him into prison. And so if he’s gonna keep following me, I’m gonna have to change my ways. And that is something that help me change my ways. If I don’t, it’s gonna hurt him. And it will hurt my kids. I’m the only thing that they got to look after them, so I have to do this. It’s like this is what I have to do.”
And while his boxing represents his personal mission to be a role model for his brother and all of the people who come from struggle, Williams also has a mission for Minnesota boxing. He wants to help create a new face for Minnesota boxing. And what does that new face to look like?
“I want that face to look like we finally have somebody who can compete on a national level who is a good fighter. Not just an opponent,” Williams said. “Minnesota has that aura right now that. The world don’t see anything in a Minnesota fighter. But if you offer them a fight, they will come in running to take that fight. The history of the Minnesota fighters is that all of their records are built up, that they don’t fight nobody. And I want to show Minnesota that y’all got a real fighter man. You all got a fighter. Get behind me, and I will show you what we can do. They are going to start respecting Minnesota. And that will help the other fighters in Minnesota that will come up after me. Minnesota’s going to start getting respected a lot more after this. I’m gonna push as hard as I can, and the other fighters behind me? They got to start doing the same thing. I’m trying to set the blueprint.”
But when it all gets down to it, his boxing and all of his experiences are directly related to his life in the inner city. And just as his boxing allows him the chance to provide a better example for his brother and for all Minnesota boxers, Williams also wants to be a motivation for kids who still have to live through the struggles that he once did.
“Everything that I did, and everything that I still do is involved in here, in the inner city,” Williams said. “I know that there are kids out there who were just like me. And people are ready to write them off and build a jail for them. Instead of building schools for them, they are building jails for them. So we want to prove them wrong. You’re building the wrong buildings for them. And I want to be a better motivation for them because these kids know me, and they know where I am coming from, and they know that I am here and that I am still in touch with them. They can always come talk to me. And they say, ‘Wow. When you win that world title man, is that it?’ And I’m like, ‘Nah, you can come into the shop, and I will be right here. I’m not going nowhere. I am here for you.’”
And in the meantime, Williams will spend his days in the barber shop talking to the folks from the neighborhood and his nights with his three children. But in the evenings, Williams will be training for the biggest fight of his career. With each step that gets him closer to September 26th, Williams knows that the time will come when he will have to fight to honor that ring name given to him by his friends 6 years ago. For Williams, being “The D.R.I.L.L” is not just about himself. By being Directly Related to the Inner-city with Love and Loyalty, Williams makes each fight a quest to provide a better model not only for Minnesota boxing, but for his children, his half-brother, and everyone he knows that comes from a struggle. So when you see him step into the ring 2 months from now, you will be seeing a man ready to fight not only for his future, but for the future of the inner-city, and for Minnesota boxing as a whole.
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Tags: Anthony Bonsante, Bill Kaehne, Brandon Burke, Chad Tostenson, Collin Kelly, Donyell Livingston, Edwin Rodriquez, Papa Joe Daschkewitz, Peyton Russel, Phil Williams, Philip Johnson, Quinton Osgood, Scott LeDoux, Zach Walters
Championships in St. Cloud. His friends, encouraging his boxing pursuits, had given him a new ring name for the occasion. This tournament would be the first time he fought under that name in public. On the first day of the tournament, Williams had Jon Schmidt’s nose bloodied by round 3, earning Schmidt a standing 8 count and resulting in a victory decision for Williams. The next day, Williams beat his next challenger, Chad Tostenson, resulting in another victory decision. After those two victories, the Minnesota Amateur State Champion of 2003 would be known as “The Drill.”
“Hagler? I just like the type of man he was,” Williams explained, “When he went into that ring and he was in shape, he just keeps on comin’. No matter what you do to him, he just keeps on wanting to fight. You couldn’t knock him out. You couldn’t hit him with a brick and knock him out. And just the way he looked. He was intimidating and he was fierce. He didn’t play no games in the ring. He didn’t mind fighting anybody. There was nobody that he would turn down. And he would just keep on coming…non-stop. He didn’t play any of those games or boxing around.” 
Truax answered quick with head shots, moving Perez back onto the ropes where Truax unleashed his uppercuts. The crowd began to rise to their feet, thinking that this onslaught would be a classic Truax knockout, but Perez escaped forcing Truax to chase him across the ring, Truax throwing everything in his arsenal at a now tumbling, but still standing Perez. From one end of the ring to the other they fought, Truax landing right hands and a couple body shots, and Perez ending the round with a solid right hand.
In other lightning fast knockouts, Jeremy “Lights Out” Mc Laurin (4-0) defeated Randy Ronchi (0-1). From the gate, Ronchi tried to move in fast, but McLaurin took his time throwing out jabs and dodging Ronchi’s punches. Once McLaurin caught Ronchi’s pace he began to put together combinations, one in particular showcasing a very powerful right hand.
Jeremy…. 8 fights. My team is looking to keep pushing forward, hopefully with God’s good graces I should be able to push forward with 8.