Let's see...
On one side we had:
- European in a Japanese manga;
- Sailor gimmick, allowing for a gimmick arena at sea (which wouldn't be used twice);
- Heavy emphasis on how the foreigner only wanted to rape and steal from the Japanese;
- Combat style which, while cool, can't poooooossibly stand up to a japanese sword technique;
On the other side we had:
- Arguably the prettiest boy in the whole cast;
- Glorious japanese sword master hyped up since chapter one;
- Evil God of death incarnate perfect for big bad status;
- A fighting style that the japanese would never get tired of (katana user);
- Character with deeper connection to other characters in the cast;
"We don't predetermine the winners" my ass. There was no way in hell William was going to win. I didn't much care for him, but maybe that was because I felt exactly what they described in the editor's notes "I know this guy is going to win, so there's no tension". This was a jobber and that's fine even in tournament style manga, but at least try to make it less obvious.
At least it was short. Still liking the manga though, but this was just... a badly written part.