The ill-tempered fight went the distance after Williams recovered from a shaky start
Chris Eubank Jr is going to go after the middleweight world champions after dominating Liam Williams in a career-best performance in Cardiff. The Englishman dropped the Welshman to the canvas four times before winning a lopsided points decision.
“We’re on track and these next few years are going to be massive, I believe. I make no secret of the fact that I want to fight Gennady Golovkin. I want the big fights in 2022,” Eubank told Telegraph Sport.
It does appear time for Eubank Jr to be fully tested at the level. Yet where there is a Eubank, there is always an enigma and controversy – it goes with the territory. He admitted to biting Williams at one point in the fight. “The amount of headlocks and headbutts… He put his arm around my neck and his glove was close to my mouth, so I gave it a bite as hard as I could. If he’s gonna fight dirty, I’m gonna fight dirty.”
Bitter and acrimonious in the build up, this all-British grudge fight between the warring factions was settled as Eubank Jr dropped Williams three times in the first four rounds, and again in the 11th. Yet if there was one criticism, it was that he failed to wrap up the fight before winning on points.
That said, Williams, the former world-title challenger from Clydach Vale, refused to buckle in front of the sold-out partisan crown and pursued his foe to the very end as – in Eubank tradition – the victor ended the contest with a showboating parade.
The judges scored the fight 116-108, 116-109, and 117-109 for Eubank Jr. Those cards reflecting the dominance of the first five rounds, as firstly, with a ramrod jab, Eubank Jr put Williams down in the opening round. He then did so again in the third and fourth rounds before allowing his determined rival back into the fight as Eubank Jr looked for a one-punch finish. Brandishing an uppercut time and again, the Englishman scored a final knockdown in the penultimate round as an exhausted Williams looked for a finish himself.
Sometimes fighters are too brave for their own good, and there were times in this fight when Williams’ trainer Adam Booth eyed his fighter between rounds and would have been considering pulling his charge out of the contest. Yet Williams, although felled four times, always seemed to have his senses in check and when hurt, held and clinched.
Signs of the skills being learnt under Roy Jones Jr came in the first stanza when Eubank Jr – with a stiff jab meeting Williams’ advance – dropped the Welshman who was given a standing count. Thereafter, Eubank Jr was brilliant and looked world class for six rounds, before seemingly taking his foot off the gas. Williams was back up on his feet in those early knockdowns, but clearly in desperate trouble. “Come and meet me in the middle,” Eubank Jr said to his foe. Williams, still game, refused to take a backward step. Indeed, as the eighth and ninth rounds played out, it was Williams who gained a foothold in the fight.
Williams clipped Eubank Jr with a left hook in the ninth, silencing Eubank Jr’s taunting, going and showboating. The Englishman took to patrolling the perimeter in that round as Williams landed a big right hand, one of his best moments of the fight. Roared on by the crow the Welshman also had a fine 10th round. Yet the home fighter needed a knockout, and it never seemed likely. Eubank Jr needed an impressive performance against a quality opponent, and that’s what he produced. Yet he will be accused of lacking the instinct to finish his opponent.
“I’m happy with the performance, I wanted to teach that man a lesson, he said some quite menacing things to me in the lead-up to this fight,” Eubank Jr said afterwards. “I wanted to punish him – I didn’t want to knock him out in one round, I wanted to punish him.
Headbutts, headlocks… I am surprised he didn’t get disqualified. But I took it like a man and I punished him like I said I would. It was a fun night. I think I showed some of my critics a different side to me.”
The 32-year-old added: “There was no danger, if I had stepped on the gas at any point in the fight he would have been gone. There are levels to this game. Don’t be a big mouth against guys you can get hurt against.”
Eubank Jr has made no secret of the desire to fight modern great Golovkin. “This year is about world titles but timing is everything,” he said.
Kalle Sauerland, Eubank’s promoter, told Telegraph Sport: “There are a lot of big fights out there for Chris. Golovkin is a Wembley Stadium fight, but Triple G is still scheduled to fight Ryoto Murata, there are fights to be had for all the belts, and there are numerous paths we could take and we will be pursuing them aggressively. This is going to be a massive year for Chris Eubank.”
Earlier on the undercard in Cardiff, American Claressa Shields, the double Olympic gold medallist, defended her WBA, WBC and IBF world middleweight titles against previously unbeaten mandatory challenger Ema Kozin. She dominated in a lopsided victory 100-90 on all three judges’ cards.
Shields, one of women’s boxing’s biggest stars, completed victory on her UK debut against the Slovenian, before indulging in a face off with British world champion Savannah Marshall, who had irked her fellow champion by feigning falling asleep at ringside during the bout. The two women had to be separated by security men after a tete-a-tete. Marshall, from Hartlepool, will meet Shields in a major clash if she comes through her next defence.
“She disrespected me tonight and I will show her who is the greatest this summer,” said Shields.
Arch-rival Marshall had her own counter. “If you perform like that against me, I’ll absolutely wipe the floor with you. You just went 10 rounds with an absolute child, people were walking out. Pillow fists. That was embarrassing.”
If Marshall successfully defends her WBO title later this year, the stage will be set for the two to face off at last.
It was also a night to celebrate for Caroline Dubois, who on her professional debut dominated Vaida Masiokaite. The hugely talented 21-year-old younger sister of heavyweight Daniel Dubois was brilliant and showed all her skills, winning every one of the eight rounds.
“I was disappointed with my performance because I wanted a knockout, but I’m always my biggest critic,” she said. “I’m coming for all the contenders at lightweight, but I’m glad to get my debut out of the way. The atmosphere was amazing.”
Ben Shalom, CEO of BOXXER, promoting the event, told Telegraph Sport: “I was between Shields and Marshall as they were exchanging pleasantries and you could feel the electricity. It’s going to be some showdown this summer. As for Dubois, there was huge competition to sign her. There’s a presence about her, there’s something special. We get excited because we know what she can do for women’s boxing over the next 10 years.”