GET ready to add Liam Williams to the list of the UK’s best boxers who have been forced to tread water during the pandemic after he makes a routine second defence of his British middleweight title on Saturday night.
With overdue world title ambitions, the Welshman marks time putting his Lonsdale belt up against Redditch’s hapless Andrew Robinson, who appears destined to pay the price for Williams’ stalled WBO title opportunity at the BT Sport Studios.
Williams and promoter Frank Warren have got WBO world champion Demetrious Andrade on the run. Despite battering his way through Alantez Fox in five brutal rounds in December – in what was billed as a final eliminator – the 28-year-old from Clydach Vale is still awaiting his chance.
“Andrade keeps saying he’s the bogeyman and that he’s being avoided, but I’m chasing the fight with him. I’m his mandatory challenger and he’s turning down fights with me,” Williams says. “But my focus is Andrew Robinson. I’ve got a job to do on Saturday night and I’m fully focused on doing it. I’m coming with bad intentions.”
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With just two defeats on his 25-fight record – a result of his bitter double-header with former super-welterweight world champion Liam Smith from 2017 – Williams has come into his own since moving up to middleweight.
He’s riding the wave of six straight knockouts and picked up a couple of interim world title belts to ensure he’s now ranked by all the governing bodies at 160lb. He’s fully matured into a fighter that’s ready to realise his full potential.
That spells bad news for Robinson, who gets the toughest assignment of his fighting life at the age of 36. His 24-4-1 record features just seven knockouts, which means he’s not got the power to keep Williams off him early either.
And while Robinson has only been stopped once, that sixth round defeat came against the same Mark Heffron that Williams bullied and finished in 10 rounds to claim the Lonsdale belt in 2018.
This main event isn’t going three rounds. Williams isn’t the type of fighter to take it easy on anybody, and his last 14 victories have all been knockouts. After a measuring up Robinson in the first, expect him to unleash the dragon within in the second before ringside talk returns to Andrade, the WBO belt or even a potential money spinner matchup with Chris Eubank Jnr.
Bout odds: Williams (1/100) Robinson (12/1)
Tip: Williams to win in Round 2 (9/2)
