Official now for December 21st @ the CopperBox Arena in Hackney Wick, on the Dubois vs. Fujimoto undercard. 10 rounds @ middleweight. Williams is rated #4 by the WBC and #7 by the WBO. Fox is rated #12 by the IBF and is the current WBO number one mandatory challenger for Demetrius Andrade. Williams appears to be gunning for a WBO title shot, as beating Fox will see him vault up the rankings, and he is actively calling out & insulting both Fox and the champion on social media of late, calling the former "an ugly skinny rat" and referring to Andrade's style as "watching paint dry". Williams is the WBC middleweight Silver champion, but that belt will not be on the line here (reinforcing my guess that Williams is eyeing Andrade for easier pickings than leveraging his loftier WBC ranking to go after the famous green & gold strap).
Williams said in a recent (day or two ago) interview that he’s heard Andrade is going to vacate and move up to fight Saunders. This is Frank Warren 101. Get an eliminator for the WBO now, jump to the top of the rankings, the belt becomes vacant, fighter challenges someone not so good for it. In this case it will be Williams vs Keeler for the vacant WBO. Quote me on that.
Hell I'd like to see Keeler get the shot just because he's a fellow Dub and he wants to scrap McGregor but there's no doubting Warren's shiftiness on these sorts of affairs.
HOW? How is Fox the WBO mandatory? Or even among their top 10? How the **** is that possible? ****ing blows my mind.
No doubting that at all, that's why I'd invite it. But I reckon Luke is also an easier prospect for Williams than Andrade is, especially on paper seeing as Tom Doran had the beating of him twice.
Bingo. He doesn't even hold a WBO minor title. Nor has Fox defeated any top-10 contenders since his last (unsuccessful) challenge of Andrade two years ago. He fought in a few eight-rounders, nothing that impressive.
Andrade is the stinker machine, very tricky customer though. I know Keeler has improved a lot since then, but I'm just saying for Frank and Liam they'll be thinking Luke is easy pickings.
Luke Keeler is a fine lad, decent pug and everything but let's be real. He doesn't belong in the ring with Andrade nor Williams.
