It is seven years since Hamzah Sheeraz turned professional as an unknown, lanky 18-year-old super welterweight.
In that time, his promoter, Frank Warren, has been involved with some of the biggest events in world boxing and also showcased many of the sport’s highest profile figures.
Still, the Hall of Fame promoter has always taken every possible opportunity to push the claims of Sheeraz.
Warren doesn’t just tout Sheeraz as a potential world champion, he routinely describes the unbeaten middleweight as a fighter and person capable of carrying the flag for British boxing.
On Saturday night, Sheeraz stopped the dangerous, undefeated American, Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams, on the ‘5 Vs. 5’ bill in Saudi Arabia and the Queensberry team captain justified Warren’s faith throughout the entire promotion.
He carried himself like a future champion throughout the seemingly endless media rounds and spoke with authority and confidence whenever he came face to face with the eccentric, unpredictable Williams.
Once the actual fight started, he performed like an established world level operator. He held his ground early on and turned back William’s charge.
Although he stands 6ft 3in tall and utilizes his range well, Sheeraz likes to remind people that his inside game is also underrated and he showed a bit of everything as he steadily turned the screw on Williams. His jab was outstanding, he paced himself perfectly and he showed a ruthless streak to finish the job and take the tired, hurt American out.
The victory was his 14th consecutive stoppage .
The classic middleweight division is crying out for somebody to take it by the scruff of the neck and – at the moment – nobody looks better placed to do it than the 25 year -old from Slough.
“In a fight like this, I knew what I was going into. He’s a puncher, he’s fresh, he’s young so in the back of my mind I knew it wasn’t going to be a wipeout victory. I was hoping it would be but it wasn’t,” Sheeraz, 20-0 (16 KOs), said after the fight.
“Me and Ricky [Funez, his trainer] had a great gameplan going into the fight. Because he’s a muscular lad we thought we’d break him down in close. I know everyone is probably thinking, ‘Use your jab’ but I had to slow him down.
“I knew the pace I set for this fight. I’m not usually someone who sets a high pace but for this one I had to.”
The fight was a final eliminator for the WBC title and after moving flawlessly through the levels since stepping up to middleweight two years ago, he feels more than ready to take the final step.
“If I’m not ready now I don’t think I’ll ever be,” he said.
The WBC title is currently held by the dangerous Carlos Adames. The Dominican defends his belt against Terrell Gausha on June 15, so calendars may well align for an Autumn showdown. After the fight, however, the name of Chris Eubank Jr. began to float about. Eubank Jnr remains one of the biggest names in British boxing and beating him would enable Sheeraz to crossover into the consciousness of casual sports fans. Although winning a world title remains the ultimate aim, beating Eubank Jnr is certainly an option which appeals to him.
“It’s a massive fight,” Sheeraz said. “He’s the biggest name in the British middleweight division so I think a fight like that, my performance today makes it so if you’ve got the balls to do it, let’s do it.”
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