Chris Eubank Jr moved closer to a meaningful fight on the world stage when he knocked down Liam Williams four times on his way to a wide and decisive victory on points in their middleweight bout over 12 rounds in Cardiff on Saturday night. Despite a fervent crowd’s vociferous support for Williams, who grew up in the Rhondda Valley, just over 20 miles from Cardiff, Eubank’s sharp left hand quelled the animosity.
Williams came out fast, looking to back up Eubank as booming chants of “Liam, Liam, Liam” echoed around the heaving arena. The Welshman looked confident, even smirking at his reviled opponent before, in Eubank’s corner near the end of round one, he walked straight into a sharp straight left hand. Williams was knocked down, looking as surprised as he was hurt.
The pattern of the fight had been set and in round two Williams went down again after he was tagged by a Eubank jab, right cross and a left hook. Roy Jones Jr, the great former world champion who now trains Eubank, urged his fighter to “take your time” and stay patient. Eubank listened and cruised through the third, only drawing the ire of the referee after he tagged Williams once the bell rang. A more legitimate punch, another straight left, sent Williams back to the familiar territory of the canvas for another count of eight in round four.
Those three knockdowns should have sealed a conclusive end but Williams has immense grit and courage and he refused to buckle. He was helped by the fact that, through the middle rounds, Eubank spent more time taunting Williams and the crowd rather than concentrating on the basics which had allowed him to dominate the fight until then. Williams kept coming forward and he was encouraged further by Eubank’s wasteful showboating. He landed a few decent shots and by the ninth round his hopeful supporters were roaring him on in pursuit of the stoppage he desperately needed.
Williams had won a number of rounds but his face told the true story of the fight. A purple swelling under his right eye seemed to trouble him as he blinked repeatedly. Williams still shouted defiantly at Eubank when the bell for the tenth round sounded. But he went down again in the eleventh – even though it looked more like a push than an effective punch.
At the start of the twelfth and last round, the referee applauded both men and they at least tapped gloves in a sign of mutual respect. Williams tried hard but the four knockdowns had been decisive.
An increasingly bitter build-up to the fight had ratcheted up the intensity as both Williams and Eubank stressed their dislike for each other. Williams, who understands the sombre risks of boxing after seeing tragedy in the ring on two separate occasions, spoke with surprising stupidity on Friday when he said: “Eubank makes my skin crawl. I want to kill him.”
Eubank punished him for his crass comments. Williams operates at a level below the world’s best middleweight boxers but he does not deserve to become just a hand-picked opponent, and stepping stone for much younger fighters on the rise. After 28 fights, and this fourth shattering defeat it could be time for Williams to look towards a different life beyond the ropes.
For Eubank Jr, however, bigger fights now await. He knows that, at world title level, he will face fighters far more accomplished and deadly than the valiant Williams. But, at least for a while longer, the Eubank show rolls on and the combination of a 32-2 record, his familiar name and trademark fast mouth add a slick gloss to this clear victory.
On the undercard, Claressa Shields, the former double Olympic champion, retained her WBA, WBC and IBF world middleweight titles with a dominant performance against Ema Kozin from Slovenia. Kozin was unbeaten after 22 fights but as soon as she stepped into the ring against Shields, who calls herself the GWOAT – Greatest Woman of All Time – the disparity in quality was obvious. Shields hurt Kozin early in the second round and, full of menacing intent and throwing punishing combinations, she moved through the gears with ominous ease. Kozin, however, was brave and clung on until the final bell of a painfully one-sided contest.
Shields will be back in the UK later this year when she faces Savannah Marshall, the outstanding WBO champion from Hartlepool, and the only woman to have ever beaten her in a boxing ring. They were amateurs then but, after the American left the ring having dismantled Kozin in Cardiff, Shields and Marshall exchanged feisty words. They are destined for a compelling fight that will elevate women’s boxing this summer.
Caroline Dubois, who beat Vaida Masiokaite from Lithuania convincingly on points in her professional debut, was thrilled to be fighting just before Shields – a fighter she reveres. She boxed with assurance, fast hand speed and some poise to win all six rounds. Her 34-year-old opponent was happy to avoid a stoppage and did nothing to trouble Dubois. It was an encouraging start for the highly-touted Olympian and, at the age of 21, Dubois can enjoy this impressively easy win before harder tests emerge as she moves up the lightweight ranks. But one of the most promising careers in British boxing is now under way.
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