British middleweight champion Liam Williams saw red after a first-round head clash that left both fighters bleeding and proceeded to blow away Birmingham’s Andrew Robinson with a vicious opening round assault at the BT Sport Studios in London on Saturday night.
After heads bored in and claret spilled, Welshman Williams (23-2-1, 18 KOs) left nothing to chance with Robinson coming off worse with a gash over his left eye. Robinson (24-5-1, 7 KOs) was simply overwhelmed as Williams pounced with a fight-ending intent.
A right hand buckled Robinson near the ropes before a right hand and left hook downstairs dropped the outgunned challenger. He rose at nine but too late for referee Marcus McDonnell and the fight was waved off, just 88 seconds into the contest.
“I wanted it to go a bit further to get a couple of rounds, get my range and look good and let some shots go,” Williams told BT Sport’s Steve Bunce afterwards. “But we clashed heads and I saw the blood dripping. I thought it was a bad cut, so I felt I needed to end this now before it goes to a technical draw. So I thought, ‘let’s get him out of there and go home’.”
Williams, the WBO’s mandatory challenger at 160lbs, is on the brink of a clash with the organisation’s reigning champion Demetrius Andrade and, if a deal can’t be agreed, that will head out to purse bids. The Welshman now has the sharpness to match the fire in his belly and would be many people’s favourite to topple Andrade, too.
“I’m mandatory challenger so it is a case of when and where,” added Williams. “Give me the date, give me a place and I will be there. They need to start enforcing it now a little but more, I believe, and I am pushing for it because I want my opportunity and I want it next.”
Photo: Queensberry Promotions.
Nantwich heavyweight Nathan Gorman was too savvy for Ghanaian dangerman Richard Lartey, scoring a clear cut points decision in a decent workout where the Englishman’s jab usually held sway. Scores were 100-90 (twice) and 99-92.
Weighing a career heaviest 19 stone 7lbs, Gorman was clearly carrying too much timber and lacked his usual slickness early before eventually finding a steady rhythm.
Referee Bob Williams gave Lartey (14-3, 11 KOs) a stern warning for a head butt in the third, but Gorman was re-energised thereafter, pumping out an educated jab that stayed the Ghanaian’s progress. Lartey landed a flush right in the fourth, but his successes were sporadic.
Gorman (17-1, 11 KOs) unleashed a thudding double jab in the fifth that made Lartey turn away and cover up. The Ghanaian still brought a threat with his industrial pressure, but he was generally too wayward with his blows. Lartey swung away hopefully in the last, but the slicker Gorman took his best shots and was a handy winner in his comeback fight after losing to Daniel Dubois in July 2019.
Photo: Queensberry Promotions.
Carstairs talent Willy Hutchinson (13-0, 9 KOs) made light work of seasoned Spaniard Jose Miguel Fandino (15-8, 8 KOs) with a blistering one-round victory after dropping down to 168lbs with impressive results.
The Scotsman hit the canvas after a tangle of legs but that was his only issue as he burned through the gears to blow away the visitor with poise and power. He battered Fandino to head and body with a blurring assault by the ropes before dropping the Spaniard with a right hand.
Fandino, stopped last time out by a comebacking Sergio Martinez, rose but was caught like a deer in the headlights and his body dipped as Hutchinson tore away with a heavy volley of blows, prompting referee Ian John Lewis’ intervention. Still early days, but Hutchinson looks the real deal.
Photo: Queensberry Promotions.
Chasetown’s Luke Jones (7-3-1, 1 KOs) sprang a major upset with a second-round stoppage of Sheffield’s previously unbeaten Muheeb Fazeldin (13-1-1, 4 KOs) at super-feather.
With the bit between his teeth, Jones immediately took the imperative, wading forward with switch-hitter Fazeldin surrendering too much space and far too hurried with his blows.
The Staffordshire battler buzzed Fazeldin with a right hand in the second and didn’t let the Sheffield man off the hook. He backed him to the ropes and detonated a series of clubbing right hands that saw Fazeldin’s gloves droop alarmingly to present a static target when referee Bob Williams intervened.
Photo: Queensberry Promotions.
Touted Portsmouth southpaw Mark Chamberlain (7-0, 4 KOs) stepped up a notch in class and was given a solid test by Willenhall’s doughty Shaun ‘The Scorpion’ Cooper (10-2, 0 KOs) in a lightweight eight-rounder. Referee Ian John Lewis scored 80-69.
The West Midlander posed a few problems with a neat left hook, but Chamberlain’s body blows and vicious left-hand work gradually began to take a toll. A left hand to the body dropped Cooper by the ropes in the fourth and he did well to survive the ensuing onslaught. But Cooper dug in gamely in the fifth to compete on even terms in the subsequent session.
Photo: Queensberry Promotions.
Chamberlain took a step back to control the range with more textbook boxing after attempting to blast Cooper out after the initial knockdown. A more patient approach worked as a right hand to the body floored Cooper again in the seventh, but the gritty Midlander has heart in abundance and deserved to hear the bell.
Main image and all photos: Queensberry Promotions.