George Liddard makes boxing history at the age of 23
George Liddard made history and turned York Hall into a proper East End knees up as he conquered a brave Kieron Conway to become the youngest ever British and Commonwealth Middleweight Champion, live on DAZN.
In a coming of age performance, the 23-year-old ‘Billericay Bomber’ was sensational and had the iconic venue in raptures when Conway’s corner eventually threw in the towel during the tenth round with the Northampton fighter appearing to be stricken by a hand injury.
Conway had earlier been dropped in the ninth as Liddard dominated throughout to go on and toast an unforgettable night – making it a huge, double delight for Tony Sims’ gym with stablemate Jimmy Sains capturing the English Middleweight and vacant Commonwealth Silver titles earlier in the evening when he defeat Troy Coleman.
“It means so much,” said Liddard speaking after his win.
“I honestly feel like l could cry. Nobody sees the amount of sacrifice that goes into this behind closed doors.
“I feel amazing. I felt like I was coasting through the rounds. Billericay’s first-ever British Champion… I’ll be walking down the High Street with my belts! I’m No.1 baby.
“Big up Jimmy [Sains] winning the English title. It was a big night for us in the gym. We just picked up between us all the domestic titles that we could.
“Credit to Kieron Conway. I said win by any means and we got the job done. What a night out there tonight in York Hall. It made things so special. Everyone turned up and made some noise tonight and I can’t thank all my people enough.”
Matchroom Sport Chairman Eddie Hearn said afterwards on DAZN: “Wow, what a performance. To do that at 23-years-old and become the youngest ever British and Commonwealth Champion, it announces Liddard as one of the top prospects in world boxing. We, as a company, need to acknowledge what we have now because that was a performance that was honestly special.”
Shannon Ryan was left smiling too when she took home the IBF Inter-Continental Super Flyweight title after a nasty clash of heads halted her bout with Chloe Watson in the fourth round, winning via a technical decision with all three judges scoring the contest unanimously in her favour.
Teenage wonderkid Tiah-Mai Ayton was in blistering form once again as she extended her flawless start to life in the professional ranks with a fourth-round stoppage over Bantamweight rival Laura Belen Valdebenito.
And fellow youngsters Taylor Bevan, Leli Buttigieg, Adam Maca and Jermaine Dhilwayo all celebrated respective wins in the capital.