Williams paralysed after crash

Former world champion Paul Williams has been paralysed from the waist down following a serious motorbike accident.

The 30-year-old severed his spinal cord after falling on his back and head when he was thrown from his motorcycle on Sunday morning in Marietta, Georgia.

"From the waist down, he has absolutely no movement," said Williams' manager, George Peterson.

"He's in very good spirits, though. He still believes he's going to fight again."

Williams crashed after trying to avoid another car in the next lane that was negotiating a curve, and then had to manoeuvre to avoid an oncoming car.

"I know he's going to make a statement after surgery on Wednesday, because he's that kind of person," Peterson said. "He's 100 per cent coherent and still has the will to want to get back on the motorcycle."

Peterson said he continues to hope with Williams that the boxer's career isn't over.

"I want to think along with him, because I've seen him do things in his boxing career that shouldn't have happened," he said.

Williams, who held the WBO's welterweight belt, was scheduled to face WBA light-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in September but that has now been cancelled.

"We want his fans to know he's going to be all right and he'll be back," Peterson said. "He said if he wasn't going to be boxing, he's going to be a stand-up comedian."