FEROCIOUS middleweight Liam Williams did not hesitate as he defended his British title from Andrew Robinson on Saturday night at the BT Sport studios.
Starting quickly, he lined up a booming combination, a straight right setting up the left before another hard cross struck home. He feinted, before launching a crunching one-two into the target.
Still in the first round, their heads collided. It left Robinson cut over his eye and Williams bleeding from the top of his head. Stirring up bad memories of his contentious first fight with Liam Smith, when Williams was stopped on a cut eye, he accelerated his attack to a further pitch of intensity. He drove Robinson towards the ropes, hammered a cross to head, before smacking the right to the body, setting himself to drill a left hook into the challenger’s other side.
The assault saw Robinson sink down. He was left dazed, kneeling on the canvas. Robinson just failed to rise in time for referee Marcus McDonnell, counted out after 88 frenetic seconds. Robinson barely had time to get off a punch.
Heavyweight Nathan Gorman provided the supporting act. It was the Nantwich man’s first outing since a devastating loss to Daniel Dubois in July of last year. But coming in at a career-heaviest 19st 7lbs did not bode well. He looked fleshy in the ring, his footwork more ponderous than it should have been. But he still understood how to manoeuvre clear of Richard Lartey’s wilder assaults. Backing off, Gorman pumped straight jabs into the Ghanaian. He selected left hooks to repel the odd charge but often simply tied up Lartey in a clinch when he came into close range.
Gorman shipped the occasional right but weathered the impacts well enough. The pace leaked out of the second half of the 10-rounder. Although Gorman won clearly, 99-92 and 100-90 twice in a unanimous decision, he will need to sharp up and improve his conditioning if he is to threaten the more highly ranked British heavyweights once again.