Wales’ Liam Williams, a former two-weight world title challenger, is retiring from boxing at the age of 32, having grown increasingly concerned about concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition linked to repeated blows to the head.
This condition, which gradually gets worse over time and leads to dementia, can only be diagnosed post-mortem and Williams, acutely aware of this, has decided to call an end to his career following a first-round loss against Hamzah Sheeraz in February.
“I know that boxing is brutal,” Williams told Michael Pearlman for the BBC. “I came back to my dressing room (after the Sheeraz fight) feeling down and feeling bad for myself. I was devastated at how I had performed.
“I trust the people around me and, when they are telling you it’s over, you have to listen. It was very hard to hear.
“I’d had some problems with concussions. I had three or four in 18 months.
“I don’t want to box just for money and get a hit to the head you can never come back from.
“I’ve got a lovely family, a lovely partner. If I can’t enjoy my life with them because of damage to my brain, what would it be for?”
Williams knows that he has already pushed his luck in many ways. With 31 pro fights to his name, and an extensive amateur career, he has given more of himself to the sport than he has received, and he has also become increasingly conscious of the fact that the fights are not getting any easier and nor is the training.
Concussed in sparring ahead of a 2022 fight against Chris Eubank Jnr, Williams went ahead with the fight anyway.
“I probably shouldn’t say this,” he said, “but a doctor told me not to fight Eubank as I had been concussed again.
“I’d had the concussion from an elbow in the (Demetrius) Andrade fight, (and also) sparring. I probably knew I shouldn’t box Eubank, but there was a lot of money on the table.
“The fight was in Cardiff and I had sold a lot of tickets. I sold £200,000 worth of tickets from my house. It was crazy.
“I didn’t want to let people down, so I didn’t say anything.
“I had no punch resistance against Eubank. Obviously I should have listened about not fighting.”
In a pro career spanning almost 13 years, Williams won the British and Commonwealth super-welterweight titles, and also the British middleweight title. He was known for his aggressive, all-action style, and boasts wins against the likes of Mark Heffron, Gary Corcoran, Alantez Fox, and Andrew Robinson. He challenged Liam Smith for the WBO’s interim super-welterweight title in 2017, yet was unable to continue beyond round nine due to a double laceration to his right eyelid. He then later challenged Demetrius Andrade for the WBO middleweight title in 2021 and recovered from a shocking start – dropped in round two – to push the American all the way and lose on points.
“Because of concussions I’ve had to retire,” Williams, 25-5-1 (20), said. “It’s the right decision, but I did have a blip recently. I watched a fight, I can’t even remember which one, and I immediately messaged my manager and said, ‘Get me a fight.’
“Then I rang him back the next day and told him to forget I’d said anything.”
As cognizant of the dangers of retirement as he is the dangers of boxing, Williams has for a while been imagining what the future might hold. It is for this reason he has built a fitness gym at the back of his house and is for now spending his time doing personal training. He says, however, that he is “in no rush” to return to boxing as a trainer.
By Elliot Worsell