Hamzah Sheeraz is set to fight for his first world title against Carlos Adames on February 22nd.
Hamzah Sheeraz, now 21-0, comes off the back of a string of dominant performances. Four of his last five opponents haven’t made it to the third bell.
In his last outing, Sheeraz stopped Tyler Denny in round two to claim the European middleweight title.
Before that, the Ilford man proved his mettle against Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams, in what many considered a 50/50 fight on the undercard of the Matchroom vs Queensberry 5v5, which also featured Zhilei Zhang defeating Deontay Wilder and Nick Ball winning his first world title against Raymond Ford.
Sheeraz’ next opponent will be the toughest yet, 24-1 Carlos Adames. Adames currently holds the WBC middleweight title, and has only been beaten by Patrick Teixeira in a close but unanimous decision.
Sheeraz has a big ask ahead of him, dethroning a world champion, though given his recent run of form and the fact he’s stopped every opponent he’s faced in the last eight years, it seems Sheeraz is more than ready for the test.
Hamzah Sheeraz says praying to beat Carlos Adames would give him “an unfair advantage”
Sheeraz, a devout Muslim, sat down with The Ring recently for their podcast, and spoke on his rise to world title contention, and his upcoming bout against Adames.
In the podcast, Sheeraz said: “I don’t pray for a win because I feel like, it might sound silly but I feel like it’s an unfair advantage.”
This just goes to show how much faith Sheeraz puts in his religion, as well as his ability.
How much of a knockout artist is Hamzah Sheeraz?
Sheeraz boasts 17 knockouts to his 21 wins, meaning just four of his opponents have survived to the final bell.
These four, however, were opponents Sheeraz faced when he was fighting just four and six-round contests. Since 2018, when Sheeraz outpointed then 4-42-1 Jordan Grannum in his first six-rounder, Sheeraz has stopped every opponent he’s faced.
In fact, not only has he stopped them, but in over half of his stoppage wins, Sheeraz has got his man out of there before the third round.
Only five men who Sheeraz has stopped have made it to the second half of the fight, and only one past round ten.
Sheeraz fights on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev alongside the likes of Zhilei Zhang, who has been training alongside LL Cool J and Daniel Dubois.
Also on the card is Callum Smith, who believes his win against George Groves would be better than a win over Joshua Buatsi.
Sheeraz has spoken before of a fight with Janibek Alimkhanuly, and this may be next if Sheeraz can get past Adames first.