Middleweight prospect Hamzah Sheeraz takes a major step up in class when he takes on former world title challenger Liam Williams at London’s Copper Box Arena on 2nd December.
Sheeraz has won all of his 18 professional contests and the Slough slugger captured the vacant Commonwealth middleweight title with a second round stoppage of River Wilson-Bent last year.
Williams has lost to Liam Smith, Demetrius Andrade, and Chris Eubank Jr, but the Welshman is a former British, Commonwealth and European middleweight champion.
Sheeraz is the red-hot 1/5 favourite to take victory at the Copper Box and it’s expected that the 24-year-old will make it 19 straight victories.
Williams would be a handful on his best form and offers of 10/3 are generous but it’s a wonder how much the Machine has left to offer at this stage of his career.
What | Hamzah Sheeraz v Liam Williams |
Where | Copper Box Arena, London |
When | Saturday, 2nd December, 2023 |
How to watch | TNT Sport |
Odds | Sheeraz 1/5, Williams 10/3 |
The contest will take place on Saturday, 2nd December, 2023.
The contest between Sheeraz and Williams is expected to get underway at 22:00. The Copper Box fight card will start at 19:00 and exact timings will depend on the duration of the undercard bouts.
The bout will take place at the Copper Box Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The venue is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and it has become a favoured boxing location for Queensberry promotions.
The Copper Boxer has played host to basketball, badminton, netball and e-sports and the venue boasts a capacity of over 7,000.
The fight will be shown live on TNT Sport. Televised action gets underway at 19:00 on the channel formerly known as BT Sport.
Sheeraz is unbeaten in 18 professional contests, but the Slough slugger has been operating in low-key contests. A clash with Williams represents a major step up in class for the 24-year-old, but the Berkshire boxer is still rated the 1/5 favourite.
Williams is a former world title challenger, a former British, Commonwealth and European middleweight champion and the Welshman has been in the ring with top-level fighters such as Eubank, Liam Smith and Demetrius Andrade.
The Machine certainly has the back class to be a force in this contest and the 31-year-old is 10/3 to upset his younger rival.
Williams has previously held the British, Commonwealth and European middleweight belts, while Sheeraz has won the Commonwealth and the WBC silver 160lbs titles.
The WBC silver title is on the line in London and Sheeraz will no doubt harbour hopes of challenge for a full world title in the near future.
Sheeraz has a perfect 18 victories from 18 fights record, but this is the first top-level operator that the 24-year-old has faced. The Slough slugger has created an excellent impression in his career to date and he has captured European, Commonwealth and WBC silver glory.
The victory over Bradley Skeete was controversial, but Sheeraz is a rapid-rising fighter and 14 of his 18 victories have come by stoppage.
Williams is a former world title challenger and a former British, Commonwealth and European champion. The Welshman has come up short in contests against Liam Smith, Andrade and Eubank but they are all world-level fighters and the Machine is a serious challenge on the domestic scene.
The worry for the 31-year-old is that he put in one of the worst performances of his career in the most recent of those defeats against Eubank and that contest against Next Gen may have spelt the end for the Welshman.
Williams has seen 19 of his 24 wins come by stoppage and he could prove a handful if anywhere near his best.
Gavin Gwynne will fight for the vacant European lightweight championship. Sam Noakes defends his WBC international silver title, while Pierce O’Leary and Raven Chapman are also in action.
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