Hamzah Sheeraz produced one of the most emphatic performances of his career as he dismantled Liam Williams inside the opening round at the Copper Box Arena in London, retaining his WBC Silver and Commonwealth middleweight titles in breathtaking fashion.

The Ilford prospect, unbeaten in 19 professional outings, needed just two minutes and 36 seconds of the first round to bring a brutal end to proceedings, leaving no doubt whatsoever about the gap in class between the two men on the night.

Williams, the former two-weight British champion from Crickhowell in Wales, entered the contest with genuine pedigree. His record of 25 wins, four defeats and a draw, with 20 stoppages to his name, represented the sternest examination Sheeraz had faced on home soil. The veteran had gone 12 hard rounds at championship level on numerous occasions and possessed the kind of rugged durability that had troubled far bigger names throughout his career.

Yet from the first bell, it was abundantly clear that Williams had no answer to the champion’s razor-sharp left jab. Thrown with both precision and genuine venom, the shot repeatedly pierced the challenger’s guard, snapping his head back and disrupting any rhythm he attempted to establish. Williams, to his credit, had been instructed by trainer Gary Lockett to box intelligently and avoid unnecessary exchanges, but the instruction proved near impossible to carry out against an opponent operating at such a devastating level.

A crisp straight shot sent Williams to the canvas early, and although the Welshman beat the count and appeared composed enough to continue, the writing was firmly on the wall. Sheeraz, showing the composure of a seasoned professional, refused to abandon his game plan in search of a quick finish. Instead, he continued to work behind the jab before introducing a sharp right uppercut that exposed the limitations of Williams’s static footwork and lack of head movement.

The end came with 23 seconds remaining in the first round. Lockett had seen enough and wisely intervened to protect his fighter from further punishment. It was a brave but entirely correct decision.

For Sheeraz, the victory represented yet another commanding statement performance. His previous outing — a second-round stoppage of Dmytro Mytrofanov in August 2023 in Wrocław, Poland — had already underlined his punching power, but this showing carried a different quality entirely. The combinations flowed with genuine fluency, the jab was arguably the finest weapon on display at this level in British boxing, and the ring intelligence on show belied his relative inexperience.

Promoter Frank Warren, ringside throughout, wore the expression of a man watching a potential star fulfil considerable promise.

British boxing writers voted Sheeraz their young boxer of the year in 2021, and on this evidence, that judgement looks increasingly prescient. Nearly four in ten recipients of that award over the past six decades have gone on to win world titles.

On a night when Hamzah Sheeraz turned in a near-flawless championship performance and Liam Williams was simply outgunned at every turn, the middleweight division has been put firmly on notice. A talent of this magnitude will not remain beneath the world title picture for very much longer.