- Williams finished his professional career with a record of 25 wins and five losses.
- The Welshman suffered a first-round stoppage by Hamzah Sheeraz in February.
- Williams admitted he shouldn’t have fought Chris Eubank Jr. in 2022
Liam Williams has announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 32, and the Welsh star has revealed his concern after suffering “several concussions.”
Williams won British, European and Commonwealth titles during his career and competed for world titles at both middleweight and super welterweight.
His last professional fight came in February, when Hamzah Sheeraz stopped him in the first round of their middleweight fight at London’s Copper Box Arena.
The result left Williams with a professional record of 25 wins, five losses and one draw, with 20 of his victories coming by knockout.
Williams told the bbc After the fight he realized he had “had too much” and revealed his concerns about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Welsh boxing star Liam Williams has announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 32.
Williams suffered a first-round loss to Hamzah Sheeraz in his last fight in February.
He admitted that concerns about concussions led to his decision to end his boxing career.
The degenerative brain disease that is caused by repeated blows to the head.
Over time, these hits cause tau protein to build up around the brain, which can lead to confusion, depression, and eventually dementia.
Williams has revealed that he suffered three or four concussions in an 18-month period.
He had bounced back from losing back-to-back fights to Liam Smith in 2017 by winning his next seven fights, leading to a WBO middleweight title showdown with Demetrius Andrade in April 2021.
Williams said he suffered a concussion from an elbow in his unanimous decision loss to Andrade, before suffering another in a sparring session before facing Chris Eubank Jr. in February 2022.
The 32-year-old admitted he had ignored medical advice to get into the ring against Eubank, who beat him by unanimous decision.
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but a doctor told me not to fight Eubank because he had suffered a concussion again,” Williams told the BBC.
“He had suffered a concussion from an elbow in the fight with Andrade, in sparring, he probably knew he shouldn’t box Eubank, but there was a lot of money on the table.
‘The fight was in Cardiff and it had sold a lot of tickets. I sold £200,000 worth of tickets from my house, it was crazy.
Williams admitted he ignored medical advice to fight Chris Eubank Jr. in 2022
The boxer said he had “no resistance to punches” and should have listened to advice not to fight.
‘I didn’t want to disappoint people, so I didn’t say anything.
“I had no resistance to the blows against Eubank. Obviously I should have heard about not fighting.’
However, there is no indication that Williams has not passed a medical examination with the British Boxing Board of Control.
Williams had previously trained with Nick Blackwell, who spent nine days in an induced coma after suffering a brain haemorrhage in a 2016 loss to Eubank Jnr.
Then he was in friend Dale Evans’ corner six months later when he beat undefeated welterweight Mike Towell. Towell was hospitalized after the fight and died from his injuries the next day.
Williams acknowledged that he had recently messaged his manager to get him a fight, before canceling that request the next day, having declared it was “the right decision to retire.”
