WILLIAMS EXCLUSIVE
Liam Williams is not the hothead some believe he is, as George Gigney finds
Why the Welshman will not lose his temper in the ring again
IN their line of work, boxers need an edge to them. There needs to be at least a sliver of venom in their make-up in order for them to go to that dark place that only fighters occupy and prevail.
As they’re pinballed along the broad spectrum of human emotions through their careers, a common misconception is that fighters dwell too long on one in particular; anger. This obviously isn’t the case – some of the nicest people you could ever meet (arise Messrs Crolla and Skeete) get paid to punch people in the face – but there are plenty who would make pretty poor dinner guests (a prime Mike Tyson, for example).
After his stoppage win over Gary Corcoran last year, unbeaten superwelterweight Liam Williams was placed by many observers in the second category. Not only was it an excellent fight on paper, there was a genuine dislike between the two protagonists. They clashed, they argued and when they met in the ring a usually clinical Williams found himself desperate for the sort of knockout that had previously come so naturally for him. Corcoran – brave, tough and boxing smartly at times – made it competitive as Williams smothered his own work in between trading insults in the ring and telling Gary to “f**k off” during rounds. Williams stopped Corcoran in the 11th but afterward admitted he was disappointed in his own performance. “It was one of those fights where I look back and I realise how inexperienced I was, losing my cool and stuff – which I can assure you won’t happen again. It affected my performance badly, I was a bit immature and I’ve learned from that,” he tells Boxing News. “From the contest itself, I realised that you don’t get anywhere by being really angry.” Tyson might disagree, and Liam did defeat Corcoran in the end, but the young Welshman’s reputation took the slightest of hits and potential future opponents saw encouraging signs; this kid is inexperienced, you can get under his skin.
Liam Smith, who Williams fights this weekend, certainly noticed something. He has said that he and his trainer, Joe Gallagher, are levels above Williams and his coach, Gary Lockett, when it comes to mind games and that “we all know Liam Williams hasn’t got the coolest head.” The Liverpudlian even questioned Williams’ training schedule and believes his team are “panicking.”
“I’m not going to take time out of my day to sit there and watch other people’s interviews like Smith and Gallagher,” Williams responds.
“I’ve not given it the time of day. Smith is clearly keeping an eye on what I’m doing, he’s said in interviews about what I’ve been doing at 4.30 in the morning. F***ing hell, I’m not being funny but does he care that much about what I’m doing and whether I’m up at 4 o’clock in the morning? I can assure you, nothing’s affecting my training.
“It is what it is, people are going to chat s**t. From past experiences, with Gary Corcoran, I suppose people are going to think they can wind me up but that’s not really me. I genuinely had a real dislike for Gary Corcoran and I still have to this day.
SMITH HAS SAID ABOUT WHAT I’M DOING AT 4.30AM. F ***** G HELL, DOES HE CARE THAT MUCH ABOUT WHAT I’M DOING AT 4 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING?
I don’t dislike Liam Smith personally, it’s just one of those things where we have to fight each other and we both badly want to win, so obviously tensions will run high.
“I need to stick to a gameplan against Smith and I won’t beat around the bush – unless I’m at 100 per cent, I’ll lose. I know this isn’t going to be an easy fight, that’s why I’ve been working my balls off for the last 12 weeks.”
As he warms up on an exercise bike in a cycling studio next to the gym he and Lockett use in Cardiff, he certainly cuts a relaxed figure. He throws light punches with his wrapped hands as his legs turn the pedals at a leisurely pace, preparing his body for the 15 rounds of training he is about endure.
He admits that he “still has a short fuse from time to time” but he has come a long way from the wayward teenager who would regularly fight on the streets and was expelled from school.
Around the age of 20, he joined Lockett’s stable and the level-headed trainer worked to harness Liam’s propensity for violence so that he would only unleash it in the ring. Having said that, Lockett likes the fact Williams has a “dog in him” and still marvels at how Liam pushes through barriers of fatigue and pain, both in training and in fights.
Their relationship is an important one, though Smith has implied that Williams leans too much on his trainer and seems “lost” without him, even likening him to a “little boy.” Williams is four years younger than Smith but seems more than mature enough to cope in a game that swiftly makes men out of boys.
Last year, he had to be. He was working in gym-mate Nick Blackwell’s corner when his career was ended by Chris Eubank Jnr in March and cornered for Dale Evans during his tragic meeting with Mike Towell.
“I thought, is it me? It was crazy, when it happened to Nick it was me, Gary and Bob Plant in the corner and it was exactly the same when it happened to Mike Towell. Same ref as well [Victor Loughlin], it was absolutely crazy,” he says. “As soon as that happened with Mike Towell I let my trainer’s licence go. I just said, ‘I won’t be going in a corner again until I retire.’
“When it happened to Nick we were a week away from my fight and luckily it fell through, which I was extremely happy about because I wasn’t in the best frame of mind. Then what happened with Mike Towell happened three weeks before I was supposed to fight and I said right away, ‘I can’t do it.’ You can’t dwell too much on the bad things, you’ve got to look at the future and the positives.”
Before we look ahead, we discuss another difficult period of Williams’ career, when a hand injury threatened to end it altogether.
In November 2014 he blitzed Michael Lomax inside a round to become Commonwealth super-welterweight champion, but he would have to wait 13 months before his next fight. He had broken his right hand during a fight in Germany earlier that year and after the Lomax win, he saw a specialist and was told he would never box again.
“I had 13 months out. Just after winning the Commonwealth title, as you can imagine I was wanting to push on and to then be told I couldn’t box anymore was heart-breaking. I was so young,” he muses. “It was very disappointing because at that stage in my career I could finally see my goal and where I was heading so to get told that at that stage was horrible.
“If I went to see another doctor now they’d probably still say the hand is f **** d. I still have pain from time to time, nothing too crazy, so I just make sure it’s looked after, wrap it up well for each session. If it needs a couple days off it needs a couple days off. Surprisingly, this camp has been very good. I’ve had very few problems.”
After getting a second opinion and more surgery, he returned to boxing with a tworound demolition of Kris Carslaw to add the British title – which had recently been vacated by Smith – to his collection, but he did have to face the prospect of seeking out another career when the injury threatened his future.
“Yeah, for about half an hour. Then I thought f**k this, I’m just going to box until I literally can’t anymore. I was fighting through the pain anyway, there were some days I’d come in and I couldn’t even punch a bag. That’s when you’ve got a target to hit, imagine when you’re trying to hit someone and you catch them on the head, or the elbow.
“Since the operation it’s a lot better but it’s not perfect, let’s put it that way.”
So, to the future. This Battle of the Liams is an excellent piece of matchmaking and for the victor there will be considerable spoils. The WBO’S ‘Interim’ title will be on the line and while the trinket itself is not a legitimate world title, its holder will be in prime position to contest the proper prize currently held by Canelo Alvarez. He fights Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr on May 6 at a 164.5lb catchweight and will surely vacate the super-welter title when his mandatory is called.
“There’s extra motivation, people have spoken about me and Smith for so long. It’s one of those things, I really feel like I need to get this win. It’ll shoot me up the ladder to those bigger fights. I know how much is on the line,” Williams says.
Williams, Lockett and super-middleweight Alex Hughes spent two weeks in Las Vegas last month, predominantly to get some tough sparring but also to soak up the feel of the fight capital of the world.
Liam travelled to various gyms, sparring four different boxers in total “over five or six spars”. It was the first time he’d gone to Sin City for training – he’d been there to watch Mayweather-pacquiao in 2015 – and he was pleased to be surrounded by like-minded people.
“Everyone was there for the same reason. In Vegas, boxing is huge. Over here people take time out of their day to go to the gym, whereas over there people take time out of the gym to go and do the other stuff they need to do. They’re constantly in the gym. Everyone was there to work hard.
“I know people always say it’s been the best camp, I wouldn’t say it’s been the best camp ever but it’s been as good as any other camp I’ve had. My weight’s good, I’ve been doing all my conditioning. There’ll be no excuses from my end, win or lose.”
In boxing, the difference between winning and losing can be painfully thin. Williams’ showdown with Smith is a classic 50-50, a domestic fight that is genuinely difficult to call. Of course, neither man will think that.
“I can’t fault Smith, I just think I’m better than him in every department. I’m bigger and stronger than him as well. I don’t see any department where he’s better than me, but what I do know is that I’m in for a tough fight and I’m prepared. I need to go in, keep my cool, and execute the gameplan.”
There is no room for emotion this time.