Liam Williams is going to be a problem at middleweight.

Yes. In addition to his undoubted vicious power, both upstairs and downstairs, he's also a quality boxer with skills, good speed, accuracy, footwork and an engine.

This notion that he's suddenly become a puncher which I've heard a lot of recently just isn't true though.

The only fighter to stop Karim Achour in 38 fights. Achour lasted the full 12 rounds against none other the the absolutely murderous punching David Lemieux whereas he didn't make it out of the second round against Williams 2.0

The only fighter to stop Mark Heffron who was unbeaten in 21 fights and highly regarded

The only fighter to stop Joe Mullender albeit neither he or Heffron had fought anyone of note

And now he's stopped once beaten Fox who lasted the full route against Boo Boo Andrade whilst fighting with a torn rotator cuff, torn labrum, and torn ligament.

However, prior to moving up to MW and beating all the aforementioned he is also the only fighter to have stopped

Darryl Sharp. The stoppage loss to Williams is Sharpe's only inside the schedule loss in 75 fights and over 50 of his opponents were unbeaten

The teak-tough (22-6) Kris Carslaw who he sparked out in 2 with a jab. Carslaw lasted the 12 round distance against the excellent Michel Soro who can crack and Carslaw gave him a tough nights work

And Dan Blackwell has only been stopped once in 75 fights too, guess who the only person to have stopped him is?

Probably the greatest JTFO KO in the history of pugilism considering that Carslaw had never been stopped and IIRC even knocked down before and is a former world kickboxing champion

Sparking an iron-jawed fighter out cold face first with a jab

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The only fighter to last the distance against Williams in his last 17 fights (since 2013) is Liam Smith and what makes that even more impressive is Williams has had terrible hand problems he's had to contend with too, so terrible it nearly put an end to his career.


'23-year-old Williams, trained by Gary Lockett at his gymnasium in Cardiff, picked up the Commonwealth title last November when he blitzed former Prizefighter winner and British title challenger Michael Lomax in a single round at the Hilton Hotel in London, improving his unbeaten record to (12-0-1, 7 KOs).

Despite his powerful display that night, Liam had been suffering from pain in his right hand for several months when a misplaced uppercut he threw against Yuri Pompilio on the Jurgen Brahmer-Enzo Maccarinelli world title card in Rostock, Germany, hit the shoulder of his opponent and broke his hand.

“I've had two operations on the hand previously and it came to a point where something had to be done because I couldn't punch any more,” explained Williams when he spoke to Boxing Monthly recently.

“That night against Pompilio some part of my knuckle on my right index finger dissolved and I had injections after the fight. My tendon had fused to the bone so every time that I landed a punch I was ripping tendon off the bone which, as you can imagine, was very painful!”

Whilst he was waiting for the first of his hand operations, and with a lengthy time out of the ring on the cards, Williams chose to take a day job with his dad as a roofer to fill the gap in his earnings.

“It's a tough way to make a living,” he said. “You don't want to be out in the open on a roof in bad weather but everyone needs more money so I went back to it for six months or so.

“I went to the gym and did my circuits and shadow boxed,” said Williams when asked how he kept fit during his downtime from the ring.

“I was still in good shape, as good as if I was fighting. It was frustrating watching my gym mates have fights but at one time or another every boxer will get an injury but I just hope that mine are done for a while!”


'Adversity and how he has dealt with it has been a theme in Williams' career and it's fair to say that few would still be boxing if they had been through what he has been through.

A hand operation in 2014 nearly cut short his career and he points out that his hands in their current state would have "retired most people to start with".

"It's not so bad now but going back 18 months ago, it was a hard job for me to make the gym even every other day.

"I always train twice a day. I physically couldn't punch. I couldn't even tap the bag, it was so bad."

"With the hand operations in 2014 and having a bit of time out of the ring afterwards, that really hit me hard.

"If I don't fight, then I don't earn money. I couldn't fight for 13 months. So it was difficult.

 

Liam Williams The Middleweight Human Grist Mill of Clydach Vale isnt just a problem, but a ****ing Monster Problem.

 

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Thanks. Yes, his power was the thing that first caught my eye when I became a fan of his. It remains to be seen how far he can go but he's definitely good enough to win a world title IMO and capable of stopping almost anyone at 160 with his combination of two-fisted power, skills, speed and accuracy.

 

For sure. Boo Boo Andrade is a very skilful and awkward customer (it appears Team Williams are going down the WBO route seeing as he's Boo Boo's mandatory challenger now), but I have full confidence in Williams ability to win that one via KO if he's able to detonate on that chin of Boo Boo's. Ideally, given his skills and hideous awkwardness, Boo Boo is not the kind of champion you'd opt to face to win a world title off if there were other options to do so on the table.

 

Yeah that's pretty much how I see it. Boo Boo is horrible stylistic match up for anyone but if Williams is able to touch that chin, especially with any kind of regularity, he can take him out. But Boo Boo can punch a little bit himself when he wants to so you can't be reckless against him.