Liam Williams hangs up his gloves
Welsh boxer Liam Williams released a statement this week announcing his retirement from boxing.
Aged 32, Williams is a two-weight British champion and world title contender, who entertained fight fans for over 13 years as a professional.
‘The Machine’ stated, “I don’t want to box just for money and get a hit to the head you can never come back from, I’ve got a lovely family, a lovely partner, if I can’t enjoy my life with them because of damage to my brain, what would it be for?
“I’ve taken too much, I’ve had a long career, boxing has been all I’ve ever known. Heavy sparring, heavy hits, my resistance to punches is not as good and the risks are just too great, some hits you can’t come back from.
“Boxing is brutal. I trust the people around me and when they are telling you it’s over, you have to listen. It was very hard to hear. I think I proved in my career that I could box at a world level, but I can look back and be proud of what I have done.”
His last fight was in February this year, where he suffered from two knockdowns in a first-round defeat to Hamzah Sheeraz, which appears to be the catalyst for the final decision on his career.
Prior to that, the Clydach Vale boxer won Commonwealth, British and WBO European titles at super-welterweight before moving up to win British, WBC Silver and WBO Inter-Continental belts at middleweight.
He won his pro debut in November 2011, then defeated Michael Lomax in his 13th fight to win his first professional title three years later, then gave boxing fans a fight of the year against Gary Corcoran in 2014 to retain his first Lonsdale belt.
In 2017, he had back-to-bouts with Liam Smith, both ending in defeats, but the first fight was a thriller which saw Williams better the former world titlist until a dubious head clash ended the fight early in the ninth.
In 2018, he stopped unbeaten prospect Mark Heffron in 10 rounds to become a two-weight British champion.
A fifth-round stunning victory over highly-rated American Alantez Fox in 2019 earned him a shot at the WBO World middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in 2021.
Williams was able to win a couple of rounds as he battled bravely but was dropped and outclassed by the undefeated champ on points.
For the second time in his career, he lost consecutive fights when Chris Eubank Jr. dropped him four times on his way to unanimous decision in 2022.
He bounced back with a second-round stoppage win nine months later, but only managed to fight once in 2023, which was a first-round TKO win.
His last fight – to Sheeraz – was on February 10, 2024.
BBN would like to thank Liam for his many years of service to the sport and the entertainment he delivered, and to wish him and his family all the very best in retirement.