Liam Williams kept on track towards a shot at WBO Middleweight champion, Demetrius Andrade, by emphatically defending his British title inside a round against Andrew Robinson at the BT Studios in London on Saturday.
Williams (23-2-1, 18 KOs) has been mandatory challenger to Andrade for some time, and was in no mood for any slip ups as he ruthlessly dispatched his domestic rival.
The Welshman used his fast jab from the opening bell, and landed a swift combination that seemed to buzz Robinson (24-5-1, 7 KOs) momentarily.
There was a clash of heads that opened up a nasty cut on Robinson’s left eye, and a wicked left hook to the body at the end of a combination, dropped the Redditch native the ropes.
He then seemingly mistimed the count, as referee Marcus McDonnell counted him out to make it a second successful defence of the Lonsdale Belt for ‘The Machine’ and a seventh successive stoppage victory.
“I wanted it to go a bit further, to get my range and get a few rounds,” Williams told BT Sport post-fight.
“Once we clashed heads, I didn’t want it to go to a technical draw, so I wanted to get the job done and get home.
“I’m mandatory challenger for the title. It’s a case of give me the date and give me the place, and I’ll be there. I’m ticking over, staying in the gym and still learning.
“I’m only going to get better when the time comes [to fight for the world title].”
The card was decimated somewhat, with Anthony Cacace’s British Super Featherweight title defence against Lyon Woodstock falling by the wayside earlier in the week.
Whilst, James Metcalf’s Commonwealth Middleweight title fight against Jack Flatley biting the dust at the last minute due to an adverse COVID-19 test within the camp of Flatley. The same happened to Micky Burke Jr’s assignment against Dan Booth.
The card was reduced to five fights as a result and the Heavyweight contest went the way of the returning Nathan Gorman, who took a decision win over ten drab rounds against Richard Lartey, in what was an eliminator for the Commonwealth title.
Lartey (14-3, 11 KOs) was last seen in April 2019 in a four round fire-fight loss to Daniel Dubois, while three months later, Gorman was also halted by Dubois in five rounds.
It was a scrappy affair in the first half of the fight, but Gorman (17-1, 11 KOs), who weighed in at a career high 19-and-a-half stone, kept the Ghanaian at bay on the whole with solid jabs and work on the inside.
Both tired down the stretch, but it was jab and grab stuff that Gorman generally got the better of, while taking the odd sporadic Lartey power shot.
The fight eventually went to the referee’s scorecard, where Ian-John Lewis and Terry O’Connor scored 100-90, and Marcus McDonnell tallied 99-92 in favour of the man from Nantwich.
“I got a good win and ten rounds in the bank there,” Gorman told BT Sport post-fight.
“After the Dubois fight, I turned my phone off for two months and wondered should I carry on fighting or not.
“I could have easily fought someone that I could have blasted out in a round, but I’m not that type of fighter.”
Willy Hutchinson (13-0, 9 KOs) wasted no time in dispatching Jose Miguel Fandino (15-8, 8 KOs), blasting the Spaniard out inside a round in their Super Middleweight meeting.
A flurry of rapid, powerful punches simply overwhelmed the visitor, who crumpled to the canvas.
On he resumption, the Scot, who knocked out Ben Thomas in a round in August, continued his quick fire assaults, which prompted referee Ian-John Lewis to step in to wave the contest off.
There was an upset in the scheduled six rounder at Super Featherweight, as Muheeb Fazeldin lost his unbeaten record to Luke Jones, who stepped in at three weeks notice to score a second round stoppage win.
Jones (13-1-1, 4 KOs) trapped Fazeldin (7-3-1, 1 KO) on the ropes and unloaded several unanswered power punches, with the referee calling a halt to save the favourite from further punishment.
Mark Chamberlain (7-0, 4 KOs) impresses with every fight, and remained unbeaten with a landslide points win over eight rounds against Shaun Cooper (10-2).
Portsmouth-based Chamberlain scored body shot knockdowns in the fourth and seventh rounds on the way to an 80-69 win on referee Ian-John Lewis’ scorecard.
