Billed as a crossroads clash, this quickly proved anything but. Rising middleweight contender Hamzah Sheeraz wasted no time scoring a marquee maiden main event win and let his boxing talk for him, needing less than a full round to complete a stunning demolition job against former world title challenger Liam Williams as a shocked Copper Box Arena crowd watched on.
Sheeraz superb against sluggish Williams
R1, 2:36 — Hamzah Sheeraz bt. Liam Williams via TKO, improves to 19-0 (15 KOs) after maiden main event win
- Sheeraz’s in-ring interview after overwhelming Williams: “I expected to stop him, but not that early! My jab is my power shot, had a lot of doubters going into this fight but it’s part of the sport. I’ve been brought up to be respectful, do my talking in the ring. Whoever Frank says, let’s have it.”
- High risk, low reward? His promoter, Queensberry chief Frank Warren says he’d ideally like to match him up for a domestic duel with Chris Eubank Jnr but said the 34-year-old would need “big balls” to agree terms in an unlikely scenario the Brighton star is potentially interested
- “No-one does that to Williams, he’s a class operator but if Hamzah catches you, you’re in trouble,” Warren said before telling me he likes Sheeraz in potential fights against new British titlist Nathan Heaney, US talent Ammo Williams and unified world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly
The big question surrounding Liam Williams was his durability, or rather how much still remained given the various battles he had endured over recent years.
The Welshman’s confidence showed through from the day this fight was announced, the multiple fighter meetings and more, having trained extremely hard – including through the festive period after their original Dec. 3 date was shelved – only for it to end within a flash as he absorbed a humiliating loss here. Retirement feels inevitable.
You never wish it on fighters after a big low point having experienced plenty of ups and downs during an extensive career. Yet it takes a lot physically and mentally, to recalibrate after defeats – much less a sobering one like this – and wonder whether it’s intelligent to put yourself in danger when your punch resistance has failed you.
Not traditionally known for being a fast starter, Williams needed to be sharp on his feet while getting to grips with the movement and sharp stinging jabs being flung in his face at will by Hamzah Sheeraz, who again silenced critics the best way possible.
The power might not look too special watching on television, but watch ringside and you’ll see how piercing a shot it is – one Williams couldn’t find an answer for.
Instead of block-and-move, the 31-year-old hit the canvas twice in quick succession as you saw his legs buckle early from a short jab and never settle again as Sheeraz’s uppercuts sent him back down for another mandatory eight-count.
Left hands were landing in an ominous flurry and before Williams could start fighting back, the towel was already out and into the ring – much to his frustration. In truth, they showed mercy stopping it there as you could sense a vicious ending coming.
Sheeraz called it an honour to share the ring with Williams, having watched him growing up. Warren again drew comparisons to Tommy Hearns, hailed his support team and declared the sport couldn’t have a better ambassador representing it.
Looking ahead
For further context… I spoke to Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk, who was unequivocal in his praise for the 24-year-old after watching Sheeraz dismantle his charge Dmytro Mytrofanov ringside last August.
“Hamzah is, absolutely, the next world champion at middleweight. I can’t say revolutionary because it’ll sound too expressive but he’ll be up there for a very long time,” Krassyuk told me on October 28
Warren said this was a star-making performance and if one wasn’t moulded from his extensive LA training camps in recent years or that humid August night in Wroclaw on away soil, he put more building blocks in place for a showcase display like this.
Selfishly, the timing of his perforated eardrum injury in training for their original Dec. 3 date ultimately stole another potential fight before the holy month of Ramadan, which begins March 9 and will see Sheeraz not feature until June at the earliest.
Regardless, they’ve got big plans in store that you can’t help but feel optimistic about the future – both at domestic level and once he inevitably ventures elsewhere.
Yarde gets job done as Buatsi watches ringside
- 13 months on, Frank Warren declares Anthony Yarde is a better fighter after falling short during Artur Beterbiev battle, fancies unified champion to beat Bivol during their unification in Riyadh scheduled for June 1
- Buatsi features during Yarde’s post-fight interview, mutual respect there – as was the case with Craig Richards and Dan Azeez for Olympic bronze medallist, but will fight negotiations finally get over the line this time?
- Selhurst Park, anyone? Warren says Buatsi-Yarde deserves to be a stadium fight this summer, the last one he promoted not featuring Tyson Fury was Lee Selby vs. Josh Warrington at Leeds’ Elland Road ground in May 2018
In the evening’s co-main event, two-time world title challenger Anthony Yarde again called for a summer showdown with Joshua Buatsi who watched ringside after logging a third-round TKO win (1:15) over unheralded Serbian foe Marko Nikolic.
Nikolic wasn’t exactly highly-rated – world no. 176 on BoxRec – coming into this ten-round contest, and from the opening minute you could tell it wouldn’t last long.
The visitor landed maybe five total punches in the opening stanza alone so while it was refreshing to see Yarde show new wrinkles – more fluid footwork, better punch selection and positioning – it’s difficult to know just how much he’s improved given the opposition didn’t provide much resistance or forward pressure.
The 32-year-old scored a pair of knockdowns in round two, Nikolic didn’t fire back much in response or box aggressively afterwards and instead found himself being broken down both to body and head, before it was soon over after a quick count by referee Lee Every when the 34-year-old was floored again in the third.
No injuries, they should endeavour to book Buatsi-Yarde in the summer and start promoting it months in advance. Naturally though, it feels like the biggest obstacle to getting this fight signed relates to the two promotional stables housing their respective fighters, though they’ve done business before, it was a long time ago.
Sam Noakes shows why we want to see him more
- Constantly improving: Warren says it wouldn’t surprise him if Noakes eventually won a world title at 135lbs, such are the developments he’s making in an ever-changing weight divisional landscape at the top
- A lightweight showdown between unbeaten prospect Mark Chamberlain and current European champion Gavin Gwynne is set for the Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou undercard on March 8 in Riyadh – Warren assured me he’s not afraid to match Noakes up against the winner
- “Let’s see what happens [Chamberlain-Gwynne]. We’re not shy about making these fights, the guys are getting well-paid for it…”
A trio of knockdowns helped Sam Noakes score a fourth-round stoppage win over unbeaten domestic rival Lewis Sylvester, successfully defending his Commonwealth and WBC International Silver lightweight titles again. In doing so, the Maidstone man also added British and WBO International gold too in his 13th professional fight.
Armed with an aggressive start, the 26-year-old pushed the pace and winged power punches with frightening frequency against Sylvester, who was stung just after the ten-second clapper at the end of the first and needed to gain a measure of respect rather quickly if this was going to be the competitive fight many had expected prior.
The speed differential between them was evident sharpish and Sylvester couldn’t evade capture fast enough to avoid being hit by combinations, against a fearsome hitter who could smell blood in the water and rushed forward intently.
Uppercuts in the corner landed flush and the Yorkshireman had his head pinged back once more to finish another frantic round being overwhelmed again.
A flurry to the body dropped Sylvester, who marginally beat the referee’s count, before he was again pinned backwards by body punching against the ropes and it must’ve felt like an age where one more unanswered combination would see the official step in to save Sylvester absorbing much more.
A big left-hand body punch floored him a second time, then more uppercuts rained down on him as he somehow survived another onslaught though not for long.
Noakes was guilty of muddying his work on the inside in the third, allowing Sylvester moments to recover, but had more clarity with his punch selection in the fourth, stalking his prey around the ring without cutting off and cornering him in one spot.
He didn’t need to, connecting again to score a third knockdown before the towel was promptly thrown into the ring. Billed as a real test, it was anything but for a man who hasn’t been active enough of late – many reasons out of his control – but showed why he’s so highly-rated. This serves as the starter, for we want to see more in 2024.
Results from the rest of the card, other tidbits
After watching his divisional rival score a first-round knockout earlier in the night against Milosav Savic, fellow domestic cruiserweight prospect Tommy Fletcher improved to 7-0 with a third-round TKO win (1:23) over 26-fight pro Alvaro Terrero.
The 36-year-old Spaniard was repeatedly warned by referee Lee Every to no avail after rough-housing in the pocket and pulling Fletcher’s head down, immediately after enduring sequences on the back foot which quickly foreshadowed a stoppage.
A big flurry of left-hands landed flush on his face at the end of the second round, and while he survived the onslaught against the ropes before the bell, the end was near.
The ringside physician advised the referee to stop the contest just before the midway point in round three (1:23), after a timeout was called with his nose gushing blood, sustaining a suspected broken nose after absorbing sharp shots aplenty.
Light-heavyweight prospect Karol Itauma faced his toughest test since suffering a stunning R5 knockout loss by Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna last January, earning a 79-73 decision win over eight rounds against then-unbeaten Italian Eros Seghetti.
The last time Umar Khan was boxing at the Copper Box, he had to rise from the canvas to score a hard-fought win over six rounds against Engel Gomez.
This time, the 21-year-old featherweight earned the first stoppage victory of his career with a third-round TKO against Colombia’s Maicol Velazco.
As for the card’s three four-round contests…
There were a pair of third-round stoppages for featherweight Charlie Hickford (vs. Yin Caicedo) and Sam King (vs. Bartosz Glowacki), while Dagenham’s Billy Adams went the distance against the aforementioned Gomez at super-feather.
- As I reported last week, it looks more likely British cruiserweight champion Isaac Chamberlain will box Michal Cieslak for the European cruiserweight title in April, should English champion Viddal Riley not agree terms set by Monday’s deadline. Isaac has since confirmed this
- Riley was slated to defend his English crown vs. Nick Parpa on the Buatsi-Azeez undercard last weekend, though that fight was never officially scheduled and the 26-year-old has gone quiet publicly over his return
- Cheavon Clarke’s stoppage win over Tommy McCarthy on January 27 means he remains mandatory for Chamberlain’s British title, and he’s still hopeful things will change in his favour sooner rather than later
- Former world middleweight title challenger and British champion Denzel Bentley says he’s back training and the plan is for an April return after losing his strap to Nathan Heaney, who returns to make his first defence vs. Brad Pauls next month in Queensberry’s Birmingham roadshow
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via TNT broadcast or procured by me
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