MORE BOXING FIGHTS: https://www.boxingfightsvideos.com
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/boxingfvideos_
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/boxingfvideos1/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boxingfvideos_/
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/boxingfvideos_
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/boxingfvideos1/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boxingfvideos_/
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [inaudible]
00:15 So the final words from Mark Lyson and we are all set.
00:19 Shiraz, seven years younger, five inches taller, he's the one with the momentum,
00:25 but he also has 72 professional rounds under his belt compared to 75 at championship level alone from Liam Williams.
00:35 Can Williams find a way to make it all pay? Working under Gary Lockett in recent times
00:41 and for this fight the watchword, Richie, has been from Lockett in preparing Liam Williams.
00:46 We've been too reckless for too long. We're going to try and box and ask some questions of Hamza Shiraz.
00:53 Does that play to Shiraz's strengths in your view or does it potentially expose a weakness?
00:59 Well, we'll see, Paul, but at the end of the day, I think what Williams has got to do here is just avoid that jab,
01:06 especially in the first couple of rounds. The first couple of rounds are going to be crucial for me.
01:10 I think Shiraz in his last contest, he started really, really quick. He's got a great jab. It's accurate. It's fast.
01:16 So what Williams has got to do, he's got to try and disrupt that rhythm,
01:20 make him out of that comfort zone when he's using that jab.
01:23 That's what Williams has got to try and do when he gets caught with the straight shot.
01:26 Straight left hook, absolutely brilliantly delivered on the money. Williams was up in a trice.
01:31 He's gone immediately to the corner, relying on his experience. The eyes look clear at least,
01:35 but it's a wake-up call. Beat that, Richie.
01:38 Yes, straight away. So it's the first couple of rounds, I said straight away from the start,
01:42 that he's got to try and avoid that jab especially and try and disrupt the rhythm of Hamza Shiraz.
01:49 But straight away, Shiraz, he's finding him with that shot.
01:53 Three very sharp punches in the next combination from Shiraz.
01:58 He's on his toes and he's on his metal tonight.
02:01 He knows that there are a few whispers have been going around in the background.
02:05 Is he all that? He started like all that, hasn't he?
02:08 Yes, that jab is so sharp, crisp. There's power behind it.
02:12 And you see, look, Williams is in trouble already. That was a good jab.
02:16 He's followed the up-pull, the legs are wobbled there.
02:19 Legs are dancing of their own volition and not in any coordinated fashion.
02:23 This has gone worse than Liam Williams could possibly have feared in the first couple of minutes.
02:28 And Shiraz is looking electric. What a shot.
02:32 Williams walked onto it. I don't know if he'll walk away from the damage in this round.
02:36 Yes, just looking at the corner then as well. Great right uppercut.
02:40 Set up again behind that jab from Hamza Shiraz.
02:45 Can't miss him with that shot. There's no head movement from Williams and he's staying at range.
02:49 And just getting picked off with that jab.
02:51 He's allowing Shiraz just to measure that gap and that target with that shot.
02:55 And then he's bringing the more powerful shots through.
02:58 Every shot from Shiraz delivered with a bolt of electricity.
03:02 The full voltage is up. This is an absolute shellacking.
03:06 And it's all over with 23 seconds left in the opening round.
03:11 If you want to make a statement, try that one for size.
03:14 What a performance that is from Hamza Shiraz.
03:17 Wake up world, I'm coming for all of you. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.
03:22 Yes, excellent stuff from Hamza Shiraz right from the opening bell.
03:25 That's a brave call from Gary Lockett.
03:28 Obviously they're very, very close. He knew his boxer was getting hurt with some big shots.
03:33 There's Frank Warren there just congratulating Shiraz.
03:35 But that's a brave call from the coach. And for me it's a good call.
03:40 Fair play to Gary Lockett there.
03:42 He was just getting caught with that jab time and time again.
03:46 Good right uppercut was in there as well.
03:48 Hamza, he just allowed Hamza Shiraz just to settle into a rhythm.
03:52 And that's what we spoke about straight away.
03:54 He's got to find a way to disrupt the rhythm of Hamza Shiraz.
03:57 And he couldn't do it. There was no head movement.
04:00 His feet were fairly slow. And he was staying at long range.
04:03 So he was a sitting duck really.
04:05 And with a jab like Hamza Shiraz has got, he just picked him off.
04:09 Of course Liam Williams doesn't know how fast that jab is.
04:11 He's only going to anticipate it beforehand in the build up.
04:14 But now he knows. It's sharp, it's crisp and accurate.
04:17 And it's a powerful jab. It's not just a sloppy jab.
04:21 It's not a very powerful jab. It's a good jab indeed.
04:25 But there's the right uppercut. So he's got variation in his work as well.
04:29 Let's have a look at it here. That's a super punch indeed.
04:32 And Hamza Shiraz, that is one hell of a performance.
04:35 And Richie, to take you back to the last showing,
04:38 Rich did leave one or two questions unanswered.
04:41 One of the big lessons apparently learned by Shiraz and Ricky Funes.
04:44 Look at Frank Warren. That's taken him back a few years, hasn't it?
04:48 Loving life and loving having a kid like Shiraz to bring to the next level, to top level.
04:54 Liam Williams, I'm afraid, outgunned at the top level yet again.
04:58 But never quite so comprehensively.
05:01 And Richie, the jab tonight was perfection.
05:04 You spoke about it in recent times.
05:07 Did you see the evidence that they've thought about that and really delivered improvement on that?
05:13 Yes, tremendous stuff, wasn't it, from that jab.
05:15 But when Gary Lockett and Liam Williams are preparing for Hamza Shiraz,
05:20 they don't quite know how fast and accurate that shot is.
05:23 They can only anticipate it.
05:25 But also, because he's got the height and reach,
05:28 he throws it from a... it seems like it's a mile away.
05:31 And he just hones in on the target and bang, it's got you.
05:33 Every time you try and move and you set your own attack, then he throws it and it hits the target.
05:38 There was just no head movement from Liam Williams tonight.
05:41 And he stayed pretty static at range.
05:44 And so it turned out then, Hamza Shiraz just picked him off with the jab.
05:47 Showed good variation with the right uppercut, yes.
05:49 But it's the lead hand that's done most of the damage here tonight, Paul.
05:54 The British boxing writers know their stuff.
05:56 In 2021, they voted Hamza Shiraz Young Boxer of the Year,
06:00 28 of the 73 men who have received that award over the last, what, 50, 60 years in total,
06:11 have gone on to become world champions.
06:14 Ricky Funes didn't even need one session in the corner.
06:25 It's his birthday just a couple of days ago.
06:27 Ricky in the background there in the red, in the Tentengoose Gym t-shirt.
06:32 I asked him what he got for a birthday present off Hamza Shiraz.
06:35 He said he broke my right hand last week.
06:38 That's why I know he's so good anyway.
06:40 They're all friends now, of course, as you can see.
06:43 And the hand is quickly repaired.
06:46 Reputation restored, enhanced, going to the stars from what we've seen tonight.
06:52 Thomas.
06:54 Ladies and gentlemen, here is the official time.
06:58 Two minutes, 36 seconds of round number one.
07:01 The red corner signaled our referee to charge Mark Lyson to stop the contest.
07:07 Therefore, your winner by weight of technical knockout, still undefeated,
07:13 and the WBC silver and Commonwealth Middleweight Champion, Hamza.
07:20 So how to assess that performance in world terms,
07:33 because it is clearly a world class display tonight.
07:36 WBC ranked number four going into this.
07:39 I know it's a crowded crowd.