Fans saw a potential glimpse at future greatness last night in London, this as unbeaten middleweight contender Hamzah Sheeraz made wholly unexpectedly short work of the experienced, former world title challenger, Liam Williams, a man who had previously only been stopped on a corner retirement and had lost only to Liam Smith, Demetrius Andrade and Chris Eubank Junior. Sheeraz, tall at 6’3”, fast and powerful, took an in-shape and prepared Williams out in a round, and this, combined with the 19-0(15) possible star-in-the-making’s overall skill and talent, has promoter Frank Warren making a hugely impressive comparison – to the great Thomas Hearns.
Warren is indeed buzzing over the way he has found a “British Thomas Hearns” in Sheeraz, and the long-time promoter who has worked with so many special fighters over the decades has no doubt Sheeraz will become a world champion. And Warren says Sheeraz, at 24 years old, isn’t too far away from getting his first shot at a world title.
“Where did you read anywhere that that would happen?” Warren said to Seconds Out on the subject of Sheeraz’s quick blasting out of Williams, “Liam was prepared and he was strong. I spoke to (trainer) Gary Lockett afterwards who said that the jab he’s got is phenomenal and that’s the key to it, he’s got a great jab. It’s not just that he’s long and rangy, it’s the power behind it. He reminds me, he’s Britain’s Tommy Hearns, and I believe he can do things like Tommy Hearns did. I know he’ll win a world title. I don’t think he’s far off at all, I’d fancy him, I’d absolutely fancy him.”
Warren closed by saying he is now “looking for a significant fight for him,” with his fighter needing a sterner test than what he got last night. How far Sheeraz can go, and who he fights next, will certainly prove very interesting (Sheeraz wants to fight Eubank Jr). And while there will never be another Thomas Hearns (a man who played his part in epic super-fights the likes of which will also never be seen again; Hearns of course winning world titles at an amazing five weights), Warren might not be all that far off the mark in comparing Sheeraz to the legendary “Hitman.”
But we have of course seen these kind of comparisons before, with a whole lot of them ending up looking foolish. But Sheeraz is absolutely one to watch, and you could argue the man from Ilford in London is one of the hottest fighters on the scene right now in the UK.
