HamzahSheeraz

EBU European, WBC Silver and Commonwealth Middleweight Champion

HAMZAH SHEERAZ IS now a major force to be reckoned with in the middleweight division.

The 25-year-old is now the WBC Silver, Commonwealth and European middleweight champion and has recently been installed as mandatory challenger for the WBO world championship held by Janibek Alimkhanuly.

His devastating destruction of domestic rival River Wilson-Bent in November 2022 in just two rounds put the 160-pounders on notice that a new and lethal threat was on the horizon.

Sheeraz works away from home in California but was far from forgotten by the boxing scribes of the Boxing Writers’ Club, who honoured him with the Young Boxer of the Year for 2022.

An illustrious list of former world champions have been a recipient of the award that is presented at the Savoy Hotel on London's Embankment.

The new EBU champion is training under the experienced Ricky Funez at the Ten Goose gym in Los Angeles. Sheeraz switched to his new base in 2021 and believes the results of his upheaval are there for everyone to see.

Honduran born Funez learned the boxing business under Dan and Joe Goossen and worked with some of the sport’s biggest names. That list includes the late Diego Corrales, Shane Mosley, Azumah Nelson, Michael Nunn, Gabe Ruelas, Rafael Ruelas, James Toney and Israel Vazquez.

Hamzah set out to chase the American dream after meeting with Funez in London in 2019.

The strapping 6ft 4" Sheeraz, still just 25, has reached 21-0 (17 KOs) in the professional ranks since making his debut at the Copper Box Arena in September 2017. He holds the longest running KO-streak in British boxing.

In March 2022 he defeated Jez Smith for the WBC International Silver middleweight title at the OVO Arena, Wembley, having departed the super welterweight scene as WBO European champion, which he defended on four occasions.

Then in the July he upgraded to the prestigious Silver belt with victory over the tough Francisco Emanuel Torres at London’s Copper Box Arena, where he recovered from a first career knockdown to stop the Argentinean in the fifth round.

Another spectacular performance came in August 2023 when he took on home fighter, the undefeated Dmytro Mytrofanov, over in Poland on the undercard of the Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel Dubois heavyweight showdown.

Mytrofanov was stopped just 35 seconds into the second round and Sheeraz followed this up with a first round blitzing of former world title challenger Liam Williams in February.

Sheeraz was then named Team Captain for Queensberry in the inaugural 5 vs 5 promotional collision against Matchroom in June, when he obliged with maximum points thanks to a stoppage victory over previously unbeaten American star Ammo Williams.

Most recently in September, Sheeraz seized his European belt with a thumping second round destruction of title holder Tyler Denny at Wembley Stadium.