Liam Williams says he’s suffered multiple concussions over the last 18 months and doesn’t want to risk his long term health.
Welsh middleweight Liam Williams has reportedly announce his retirement at age 32, according to BBC. Williams states that he’s decided to hand up the gloves out of concerns over the number of concussions he’s suffered, and what further damage could be done to his brain if he continues to fight.
In particular Williams mentions that after his first round knockout loss to Hamzah Sheeraz back in February that he had taken too much accumulated damage and isn’t looking to put his future with his family at further risk, concerned about the potential for CTE after a string of concussions over the last year and a half.
“I trust the people around me and when they are telling you it’s over, you have to listen. It was very hard to hear. I’d had some problems with concussions. I had three or four in 18 months. I don’t want to box just for money and get a hit to the head you can never come back from. I’ve got a lovely family, a lovely partner, if I can’t enjoy my life with them because of damage to my brain, what would it be for?”
Williams would continue by admitting that he had been concussed going into his 2022 fight against Chris Eubank Jr and was advised by a doctor not to go through with that fight, but says there was a lot of money on the table in that fight and he didn’t want to let the fans down.
In retrospect Williams says it was a poor decision to follow through with the Eubank fight at the time and adds that he wishes he would’ve been able to win a world title before retiring, but is still proud of what he’s accomplished in the sport anyway.
Williams retires with a 25-5-1 professional record and we wish him all the best in his post-boxing life.
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