It looks like Paul Williams will take on spoiler Nobuhiro Ishida on July 9 in his first bout since being stopped by middleweight champ Sergio Martinez last November, according to ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael.

Williams (39-2, 27 knockouts), a 29-year-old former two-time welterweight titleholder, was knocked out cold by a single punch in the second round of his fight with Martinez. Obviously his handlers are concerned about his chin with the selection of Ishida, a 35-year-old veteran from Japan, who has a low KO percentage.

However, Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KOs), dropped heavily favored James Kirkland three times en route to scoring a shocking first-round stoppage in his last bout, which was on the April 23 undercard of the Erik Morales-Marcos Maidana pay-per-view event.

The Williams-Ishida bout, which will take place at 155-pounds at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., and be televised on HBO, has been agreed to by Dan Goossen, who promotes Williams, and Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Ishida in the U.S.

Ishida, who lives and trains in Southern California, is promoted by unbeaten junior middleweight beltholder Saul Alvarez’s Mexico-based Canelo Promotions.