Byron Williams is a fictional character in the 1996 film Mars Attacks!. He is a former heavyweight champion in boxing and escapes the martians' massacre in the end.

Background

None of his childhood and early life have been revealed throughout the film. However, some information has been told about his boxing career. He has an ex-wife, Louise and two sons who are residing in Washington while he is in Las Vegas, trying to earn money for his family.

He is an African American and he has sympathy in other people. This is evidenced when he is trying to earn more money and helps distract the martians in order to let the others escape.

He is revealed to use the Orthodox stance in the boxing match near the end of the film. He is seen fighting with left foot and fist leading.

Role in Mars Attacks!

In the first half of the film, Byron is first seen in the casino he is working in. He is taking pictures with nuns. After this, an announced that there is a telephone call for him. He goes to the telephone booth and he starts talking with his ex-wife about her problems with her sons' disappearance for 2 nights. Then, the casino manager sees him and Byron is forced to stop the call. Later, he asks him to increase his budget but is rejected.

Byron is present at watching the Martian Ambassador kills governmental officals in Washington. Then, when Martians start invading Las Vegas and a few Martians damage the casino, Byron pursues one of them. The Martian stops when it sees an old lady still playing a slot machine. Byron manages to get to the Martian in time right before it can kill the woman. He pulled its glass helmet to let it face him and he delivered a right punch straight through its helmet, breaking it. When his company arrived, he obtains its two laser guns and start discussing a plan to escape Las Vegas. It turns out that Tom Jones can fly a plane and Barbara has a private plane in an airfield just opposite the freeway.

Later, Byron, Tom, Cindy, Barbara and the Rude Gambler are seen running away from the casino and heading towards the airport with Barbara's plane in it. The group suddenly gets caught in a maze of old advertisements and the Rude Gambler goes away from the rest but gets killed by a Martian. The Martian is subsequently killed by Barbara's gun and the rest continue deep into the maze.

After that, they manage to reach the other end of the maze and sees the airfield. However, many other small aircrafts are shown being destroyed and burning on the ground, indicating that Martians have been here. The group infiltrates the hub and sees the plane still intact. Tom and Barbara boards the plane while Byron and Cindy go to the door to open it. After opening the door, they discover a huge army of Martians and Martian Ambassador blocking the runway. Seeing this, Byron quickly comes up with a plan and orders Cindy and the others to take off without him. After this, Byron runs out to the field, towards the army of 50 Martians and their leader.

Boxing Match: Professional Boxer vs. Unprepared martians

It turns out that his plan is to shove the army aside so that the others can take off safely. He challenges the Martians with a boxing match. While heading towards the army, Byron slows down a little and starts introducing his plan to the Martians.

He shouts "No weapons! No clown outfit! Just me! Byron Williams! Heavyweight Champion......Of the World!". While doing this, Byron tears off all of his unnecessary clothings which are his gun, his bracelets, pharoah necklace and two strips of shoulder clothing. He is left wearing a bullet-proof vest, his wedding ring and his pharoah trunks. Once finished, he goes into his boxing stance. SInce, he has no boxing gloves with him, he is forced to fight with his own bare fists. He wants to challenge the Martian Ambassador first. With the aid of reading minds, the Ambassador immediately accepts his challenge and orders two of his recruits to take off its red robe. It then tries to copy Byron's boxing stance and steps into the boxing match.

Byron and the Ambassador slowly walk towards each other and they circle around for a few moments. Then, Byron found a comfortable spot to stand on and moves in closer to his opponent. The army watches in awe and all of them walked closer to the fight. Some imitated Byron's actions while others cheered their leader on.

Just when the Ambassador moved too close to Byron's fists, Byron delivered a sudden left jab to its glass helmet and still kept to his defence. The blow rocked the Ambassador and it quickly went back to his opponent. Byron then swung a second punch and the Ambassador went dizzy for a moment. The Ambassador still tried to copy his stance but Byron interrupted it with a another intensive punch to its helmet. The blow made the Ambassador stumble back and it shook its head to relieve its dizziness. Byron rested for a while and let go of his defense and shook his head to relieve the exhaustion. Then, Byron went into his boxing stance again and so did the Ambassador. Byron punched the Ambassador again and it let go of its defence. Noticing this, Byron took careful aim and punched. The Ambassador's helmet slightly broke by the impact. Byron jabbed it 3 more times and finally smashed its helmet with a right uppercut, killing it. The army got angry and all start to fight Byron. As the fight progresses, Byron starts being surrounded more and he became too overwhelmed by the number of Martians and he slowly went on his knees.

Towards the end of the film, Byron is shown in Washington and he is seen intact despite bruises on his limbs. He survived the fight and once he sees his family in their apartment, Byron runs towards the entrance of the apartment, reuniting with his family.

Professional boxing record

Template:Start box |- |align="center" colspan=8|53 Wins (53 knockouts), 0 Losses, 0 Draws |- | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Res. | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Opponent | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Type | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Rounds | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Date | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Location | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes |-align=center |style="background: #ddffdd; color: black;" class="table-yes2" |Win |align=left|Template:Country data USA Sonny Liston |Decision (unanimous) |12 |1969 |align=left|Template:Country data USA Las Vegas |align=left|Told according to nuns in film |-align=center |style="background: #ddffdd; color: black;" class="table-yes2" |Win |align=left|Unnamed boxer |Decision (unanimous) |12 |1973 |align=left|Template:Country data UK Cardiff, Wales |align=left|Told according to Tom Jones |-align=center |style="background: #ddffdd; color: black;" class="table-yes2" |Win |align=left| Martians |Decision Template:Random |51 |1996 |align=left|Template:Country data USA Las Vegas |align=left|An attempt to distract the martians while the others escape via plane |-align=center}} Template:End box