British contender Hamzah Sheeraz came out on top on June 1, when he faced Austin Williams of Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The pair battled it out on the card card billed as “Queensberry vs Matchroom: 5vs5“.
The scheduled for 12 rounds middleweight contest didn’t go the full distance. Sheeraz claimed the win via TKO in the pre-last round stopping his opponent with a barrage of punches. At the end of the 10th round he dropped Williams and secured a knockdown with a right hook. The referee stepped in and waved and the fight off to save the latter from further punishment at 45 seconds into the 11th round.
With the victory, Hamzah Sheeraz retained his WBC ‘Silver’ belt and won the final WBC 160-pound world title eliminator. The 25-year-old native of Slough, England improved to 20-0, 16 and remained undefeated.
“I knew what I was going into,” Sheeraz said post-fight. “He’s a puncher, he’s fresh, he’s young. So in the back of my mind I knew it weren’t going to be a wipe out victory. I was hoping it was, but it wasn’t. Me and Ricky [Funez] had a great game plan going into the fight, cuz he’s a muscular lad. We thought we’d break him down in close. I know everyone’s probably thinking use your jab use your jab and whatnot. I used it, but at the same time I had to slow him down.”
“I was throwing the uppercut, but if you hear a corner camera Ricky was saying ‘right hook, right hook, right hook’. Frank was saying it as well. And then boom, I slipped it over and he was gone.”
“I’m not normally someone who sets a high Pace but for this one I had to.”
“If I’m not ready now [for world title], I don’t think I’ll ever be. Only by the will of
Allah I’ll win that. Inshallah.”
Houston-based Austin Williams dropped to 16-1, 11 KOs. The 28-year-old southpaw suffered his first career defeat.
Get Queensberry vs Matchroom: 5vs5 full fight card results.