AT first, Liam Williams didnโt know what hit him. He didnโt see glaring lights, he barely felt the violent thud, and a sudden shot of adrenaline clouded the taste of blood. But it wasnโt a hard right hook or a crunching uppercut that scrambled his senses. It was a car travelling at 40mph.
Even the panicked scream of a passing friend wasnโt enough warning for Williams. Only a mile from home, he was tending to a punctured tyre until the carโs impact interrupted him and volleyed his body 20ft through the air. The woman steering the car had driven on that road a thousand times before. On this day, she was texting on her phone.
โIt all happened too fast,โ Williams told Boxing News, his memory of the moment blurred. โAll of a sudden, I was like, โwhatโs happened here?โ I jumped up as a reaction and just fell straight back to the floor and then I felt the pain.โ
In the initial aftermath, boxing was on the backburner and Williams was hospitalised. He was lucky to be alive, even luckier to escape without any broken bones, albeit cut to scarlet ribbons. Unable to walk for the next three weeks, he scooted around the house on a computer chair and it didnโt take long for boxing, or at least the thought of it, to return to his agenda.
โShe just had a bit of a slap on the wrist,โ shrugged the Welshman. โWeโve all done stupid mistakes before and you donโt actually realise how stupid it is until something like that happens. I was very p**sed off but more to the fact that I couldnโt box.โ
The collision happened in June 2011, and the timing was terrible. Still an amateur, Williams had turned 19 a month earlier and he was on the eve of flying to Turkey to compete in the European championships. The event doubled as a qualifier for the life-changing 2012 Olympics. Having won the Welsh national title in his first senior season, Williams was selected for Wales at a time when each home nation could send representatives to major international tournaments. The missed opportunity was compounded when his domestic peers at 75kg, Englandโs Anthony Ogogo and Scotlandโs Brian Peacock, were eliminated in the first round. A member of the GB Boxing development squad, Williams wouldโve only needed one win to standout, but it wasnโt to be. His time as an amateur, where he amassed a 44-5 record, had come to an end. Heโd already accepted he wasnโt suited to Team GB.
โListen, whether I wouldโve qualified or not, who knows? But the likes of Anthony Ogogo and others were better than me as an amateur. I have no trouble in saying that. I was always more suited to the pros. I know if I fought any of them good amateurs as a pro, Iโd smash them to bits. โIt was always hard [because] they always seemed to prioritise the English lads. I didnโt really enjoy my time there, to be honest with you. It was a chore, it was s**t.โ
One of the safest sweeping generalisations you can still make nowadays is that people from the Rhondda valleys are tough. Coming from Clydach Vale, Williams was brought up on a mountainous landscape carved by ancient ice-age glaciers, and among a population that felt the aftershocks of the industrial revolution, especially the end of the mining industry, as much as anyone.
Williams was a child when he first learned of how his fighting forefathers punched a way out of working in the coal mines. The lesson came courtesy of a blue plaque dedicated to 1930s heavyweight Tommy Farr, commemorating the terraced house he called home โ a literal stoneโs throw away from the Williams family home on the same road.
Now in his 90s, neighbouring Pete Bartlett was captivated by boxing as a young boy when he was in the streetโs welcoming party as Farr returned home from his 1937 challenge to heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Later running Rhondda ABC, where Williams began boxing, the old school trainer influenced the lives of hundreds of local children in the community.
โI love Pete to bits. Iโve got more respect for Pete than I have for my own old man, thatโs the Godโs honest truth,โ said Williams, forever grateful. The trainerโs guidance kept Williams grounded, and so did working for his father as a roofer for the first 18 months of his pro career.
Training in the same gym as Nathan Cleverly put Williams on the radar of promoter Frank Warren. Cleverly was the UKโs only world title holder in 2012, and his status secured a slot for Williams to open a homecoming show in Cardiff. The prospect improved to 2-0 and overcame a nasty wound to outpoint Tommy Tolan, not helped when then-trainer Vince Cleverly forgot to recruit a cutsman for the corner.
โI did have to [stand out] because at that time, I was kind of in the shadow of Nathan,โ he reflected, grateful for the opportunity but wanting to be there on merit rather than privilege. โBeing in the same gym as him, on the same showsโฆ I had to prove to people I wasnโt just Nathanโs gym-mate. I was thinking, โIโm here and Iโm meant to be here.โโ
Williams left the Cleverly camp six months later to train with Gary Lockett, already his manager. Lockett made sure Williams served his apprenticeship against durable journeymen and kept him busy with seven fights in his first 16 months. The only problem was that five of those appearances came on the small hall scene, and they shared much bigger ambitions.
โItโs a bit of a s**tty feeling because you know, without sounding disrespectful, that you deserve to be on the big stage. It sounds bad but you think, โIโm better than this.โ
โDo you remember anyone on them small hall shows with me that made it? Because I donโt think thereโs one that I can think of.โ
After signing with Frank Warren, a plan was put in place with matchmaker Jason McClory to give Williams the experience all up-and-comers should encounter. Unknown to anyone, it set Williams on a path towards another career-threatening episode. Securing one of his first televised slots on BoxNation in 2014, he appeared on the undercard of Enzo Maccarinelli vs Juergen Braehmer in Germany. Halting Youri Pompilio in the last of eight rounds was an impressive result, especially as it drew direct comparisons to other quality prospects, but it came at a cost. Early on, Williams slipped a jab and threw an uppercut that connected on the point of Pompilioโs elbow. Punching through the pain, the performance singled him out and BoxNation were onboard. Warren delivered another three fights in the next seven months and Williams thrived; tearing through hometowner Ronnie Heffron in a British title eliminator, stopping Stepan Horvath four rounds quicker than Chris Eubank Jnr and running over Michael Lomax to claim the Commonwealth super-welterweight title. By the end of the year, the tendon of the knuckle above the index finger of Williamsโ right hand had fused to the bone.
Unable to even unscrew bottle tops, Williams knew it was serious. Still, he was unprepared for the news he received from the UKโs leading orthopaedic hand surgeon. Just 22, he was heartbroken to be told, in no uncertain terms, he should retire and consider becoming a trainer. โI was fine in the moment and it didnโt actually sink in until I was walking back to the car once Iโd left. I burst out in tears. It was unbelievable.
โI was with my old man. He said, โLiam, f**k that guy, we will find someone. Whatever it takes, youโll get seen to because Iโll pay whatever you need.โ
โI lost interest. I thought if the so-called best doctor in the country has said that, thereโs not much hope. [For] maybe a week or two, I just thought that was me done, โI need to start grafting and working.โโ
Through Lockettโs father-in-law, formerly team doctor for Llanelli Rugby Club, they eventually found the solution. It took two operations, ยฃ15,000 of medical fees and a lot of patience to overcome the injury. For months, the only resistance training Williams endured was weighted shadow boxing, so he was beyond eager to return to the ring.
When he did come back at the end of 2015, it looked like heโd never been away. Sporting a four-inch scar across his hand, he ended 13 months of inactivity and then ended Kris Carslaw, who has always lasted against good company, in less than four minutes. Onlookers were more excited than ever as Williams added the British title to his collection.
The joy was short-lived and 2016 brought fresh distress with a fatal fallout. Williams earned hard-fought experience in a bad-tempered British title defence against Gary Corcoran, but the knockout win in July was bookended by tragedy.
In March, Williamsโ close friend and gym-mate Nick Blackwell had been put in an induced coma after 10 rounds against Chris Eubank Jnr. He remained unconscious for seven days, and the anguish wasnโt helped when the Eubanks held a press conference against the wishes of Blackwellโs family. Williams had been in the corner, as he was for Dale Evans in the following September. On that night, Evansโ won a British title eliminator in five rounds. Mike Towell, a father-of-one, suffered a brain injury and lost his life a day later.
โI know what Iโm signing up for now, itโs a brutal sport,โ said Williams in a forthright manner that suggest his eyes are wide open to the occupational hazards of his unforgiving profession. Many boxers say they are willing to pay the ultimate price, yet few have sat in the intensive care units and witnessed the sportโs most despairing, bloodcurdling consequences like Williams.
After back-to-back headline appearances in Cardiff, Williams ventured to world title contention in 2017 and tasted defeat for the first and second times as a pro. Warren had eyed a showdown with Liam Smith for a while and when the Scouser lost to Canelo รlvarez, it finally made sense.
In their first meeting, the only thing worse than Smith missing weight by 2lbs was referee Terry OโConnor missing a clash of heads that gave Williams a double laceration to his eyelid, forcing his retirement when ahead on the scorecards.
โSmith had been in bigger fights and he was more experienced. It was a great learning curve for me. Thatโs when I really realised the things that go on in boxing. A lot more goes on that what meets the eye,โ said Williams, unintended irony tainting his last point.
Still competitive in the rematch, he lacked his usual aggression and the deflation from his first loss led to another. Repeat defeats promoted Williams to amicably part ways with Lockett, a decision mostly motivated by the need to get away from the distractions and home comforts that eroded his dedication.
Relocating to Sheffield in 2018 saw Williams rediscover his hunger, even conceding he became a โlittle bit arrogantโ during regular displays of destructiveness over the next three years. His time with trainer Dominic Ingle featured six knockout wins, helping him to become a two-weight British champion and world-rated at middleweight.
Concurrently, there were less attempts to keep a lid on his emotions and he saw fewer reasons to rationalise or subdue his richest natural resource โ anger. Understanding his short-fused anger better than ever, heโs tried to harness its energy rather than lose control of it.
The run with Ingle culminated in a game challenge to WBO titlist Demetrius Andrade, ultimately lost on points in April 2021. Parting ways with Warren and Ingle towards the end of the year, Williams has entered another new chapter alongside established coach Adam Booth.
Their first task together is bitter domestic rival Chris Eubank Jr, formerly trained by Booth. After two delays, they finally meet in Cardiff next week. Theyโve traded trash talk, with Williams making unsavoury remarks about Jnrโs relationship with his father, simply to get the fight over the line.
โTo be honest, I knew it would p**s him off, which is exactly why I said it. It definitely raised his blood pressure, I would say.
โHeโs obviously got his hair off with me and heโs going to try and punch holes in me but thatโs what I want because I can beat him to the punch and hurt him more than he can hurt me.โ
Undeniably lighting a fire under Eubank, the crude comments could be considered a sign that Williams believes heโs mastered his own rage so well that he can create and control it in others. The proof, as always, will be proven with punches.