Williams V Andrade- thoughts..

Liam Williams seems to have rejuvenated his career after a few terrible setbacks, losing back to back to Liam Smith and having an operation on his hand.

The bookies only see this going one way, however,which is Andrade.
He's the man in his division. And it is almost unthinkable that Williams can do it.But I have noticed a real fire and supreme confidence in him over the last year;he's a very,very hungry fighter indeed.He won't have any fear of going in to the lion's den, as it must inevitably be called, boxing in the other guy 's territory.
Andrade really resents taking this one.He doesn't make any secret of his disdain for Liam Williams 'skillset.
Perhaps he is right and there really is a gulf in class.I'm not so sure.I'm betting on Andrade having to back-pedal more than he has ever done to win over a messy twelve rounds.

Williams has self-belief and I think until he is punched to a standstill he will still have that belief.

Andrade is one of those fighters that's unbeaten but looking at his record he's beaten virtually nobody of note. If this was the 1990s he'd be a WBO champion from Germany who never leaves Germany. It may be that he does have the skills and is better than a lot of people think, but he doesn't EXCITE. Also, underestimating your opponent is the worst thing you can do in a fight.

Although I am not particularly a fan of Williams, I can see one of 2 things happening - a win for Williams against the odds. He has that huge self-belief and it pays off because Andrade doesn't rate him and makes a major error in judgement. Either that or Andrade really is as good as people say and it's a one-sided contest with Andrade's hand being raised, possibly via corner retirement.

Hugely interesting fight. Can’t miss this one. Never seen an Andrade fight before tbh. Be a great win if Williams can pull it off

Williams’ proximity to Smith and Smith proximity to Canelo makes this very intriguing for me

So is it hypejob or boogeyman, Boo Boo or doo doo?

https://youtu.be/8-gJxiNICsI

Good point at 1:40:20s

Strange career for Andrade so far. Has a touch of the Winky Wright about him, in the sense that you forget how long he's been around on the periphery of the big time, without ever landing that big win or defining contest. As a result he's often been matched with a series of guys who really have no business being in there with him.

Williams isn't a fighter I've followed too religiously since those losses to Smith, but I did see him against Fox which was a very good performance. That said, Fox was absolutely abysmal that night, totally useless, and he also set his stall out to fight a very conservative fight on the back foot, which I don't think Andrade will do. Though he's a stylist first and foremost, Andrade will mix it up and try something new in there, dropping his hands and taking more chances in order to make his opponent open up. He has that herky-jerky style, moving his hands and shoulders to set stuff up and force the mistake from his opponent, and I think that will be the difference tonight.

Horrible ref

Well the result was indeed a messy 12 round affair in favour of the brilliantly gifted champion, Andrade- and not the more decisive stoppage decision as seemed likely after Williams' nightmare first two rounds.
It reminded me of Hatton v Mayweather, in that Williams as the Brit abroad, rushed in seemingly face first, and continuing this strategy for the rest of the fight which allowed for him to be picked off by a very cute boxer with a little help from his friend the ref.

Credit though to Liam Williams for having the guts to fight on and to keep  on going. Williams  pressed for the win even when it must have been clear to him that his only hope of winning was to land a lucky punch. If that would have come to pass it would have been a story of "Rocky" proportions.

After the torrid first round, and especially after the knock-down in the second round, he did at least spare himself of Hatton's  kayo fate (all those years ago, alas).
However it's clear that  part of Andrade's style and mindset is frustratingly negative in nature a-on this occasion, he seemed to  believe that he could  simply rise above the need to apply constant pressure on his opponent.

The referee really should have had at least a word with him for poor sportsmanship, but he instead was more keen to warn Williams for much more minor infringements. But as they say, expect no favours when you're in with  a home fighter in the US.
From the moment we saw  the first exchange of the first round,it certainly looked  as if Andrade  beating Williams by a wide margin was the only way this fight was going to end. Which makes it all the more puzzling that Williams  not only stayed in this fight, but made it so competitive that it was to be his toughest defence yet.
Andrade never seemed to  build on  any of the progress he made in any previous rounds,  instead giving Williams opportunities time and again to get right back in his face, which he did do, to his obvious discomfort.

The American is adept at fighting beautifully on the back foot and landed at will with a spearing jab and punishing uppercut, but its hard to shake the impression that he's either a lazy fighter or there's something else at play.

Afterwards, in the bbc radio commentary, Steve Bunce and Barry Jones betrayed a degree of frustration when discussing Andrade. Whilst still praising his abilities to the hilt they speculated on the subject of his obtaining the career defining big  fights, and concluded that there was still a worryingly large possibility that Andrade stays a peripheral figure to the wider public.

If  Andrade is an avoided fighter,  then to a certain extent, it seems to me, he only has himself to blame. He's very slick,with great shot selection and just  a natural born boxer. I can however understand why he is a nightmare choice for a prospective opponent, as his style doesn't  exactly shout "box office" to the marquee names of the sport.

They observed that he was one of those boxers who fights  in eye catching spurts, of say thirty seconds at the start of a round,only to go 'walkabout' for two minutes...and then one more eye -catching flurry for  the end of the round-at least in this fight.

Also noted was the  dubious trait whereby  he half turned his body away from punches when under pressure. And as  for his trick of  repeatedly 'stopping' the fight by falling face first  into Williams' abdomen, and then sliding to the floor and pulling his opponent to the canvas with him- I can't see American fight fans in particular wanting to pay good money to see that.

As for his future, it's likely that he is too big to make middleweight as he's basically a six footer, who looks more like a super-middle. But seeing how he has, as Bunce said, shown a vulnerability in both of the weights that  he's competed in so far,(and his legs were most definitely wobbled once  in the middle rounds  by Williams who also had some success in finding him in round nine). Liam Williams, his talent looking so  limited in comparison, still managed to drag him in to the trenches a couple of times, and he didn't appear to like being there one bit.
I will be interested to see what happens when he does eventually fight someone who is able to cut off the ring instead of simply chasing him as Williams did tonight, and punch even harder.

It's possible,on this showing, that he is definitely not too keen on the idea  of being drawn in to a war to prove himself- he's basically a 'safety first' type, who is apparently insecure about taking one on the whiskers.

So, on the one hand an undoubted talent, but, it has to be said, there are still some big question marks about his stamina and maybe too his intestinal fortitude.
Whether this performance was a dip due to his inactivity of late will remain to be seen.

Would  Saul Alvarez want to take the fight-and the smart money says that this type of fight is not one that he would actively seek out because it's a high risk and not quite blockbuster status.
But -the potential is there to make Alvarez look clod-hopping, if  he were to really pull out all the skills at his disposal. Plus his  apparent vulnerability/ insecurity, it's an intriguing match-up which would throw up many interesting questions. Having said that its hard to predict how Andrade's career will pan out, but I hope he does get his chance to put it all together.

(N.B.this article has been heavily edited after my initial post-match write-up which was way too churlish about Andrade.)

Andrade is a massive hype job. He runs around pot shotting. He’s embarrassing himself begging for a GGG fight. GGG would slaughter him. Charlo probably rips his head off.
Andrade = big mouth little skill.

I wouldn't go that far, Jeff. He's not someone that's easy to warm to that's for sure.I think its a good match up with Triple G- and I guess it all depends on how much GGG has declined of late

The biggest issue with Andrade is the speed his career has progressed, this was his eighth world title fight and he's yet to face a world level opponent. Vanes Martirosyan is the best opponent he faced and he's fringe world level at best, beyond that Brian Rose and Liam Williams are among his better wins.

We rightfully bemoaned Kell Brook for not moving his career forward after his stellar win over Shawn Porter but he at least went on to lose to three top drawer fighters showing a relative willingness to mix it at the highest level. Can we honestly say the same of Andrade when he's happy making mandatory defences against the likes of Williams who is domestic level at absolute best?

Williams isn’t domestic level, he’s lower world class

My verdict on Andrade, good but no cigar, never going to dominate a division, likely to lose against the very best

Soul Requiem wrote:The biggest issue with Andrade is the speed his career has progressed, this was his eighth world title fight and he's yet to face a world level opponent. Vanes Martirosyan is the best opponent he faced and he's fringe world level at best, beyond that Brian Rose and Liam Williams are among his better wins.

We rightfully bemoaned Kell Brook for not moving his career forward after his stellar win over Shawn Porter but he at least went on to lose to three top drawer fighters showing a relative willingness to mix it at the highest level. Can we honestly say the same of Andrade when he's happy making mandatory defences against the likes of Williams who is domestic level at absolute best?

To be fair to Andrade, Williams was his mandatory so had to be taken care of, but I totally get your point above. His career progression has been glacial. He called out Saunders just when Saunders was leaving the division - just noise, nothing serious it seems. My guess is that even a fading Golovkin would soon find his range and put Andrade in serious trouble, and Jermall Charlo would have a field day. Of course, because he's not exactly top-drawer entertainment, he's in this year's "Who Needs Him?" club. Hardly his fault, but I do think he's been protected to a degree.

It seems the middleweight titleholders are all bleating about unifying but not making any moves to do so - the reason appears to be Canelo - they all want him for obvious fiscal reasons. That said, Canelo is as likely to go back down to Middleweight as I am. So that's a moot point. In my opinion, the best route for Andrade to get another title is Murata if he ever gets fit to fight again. Or Eubank Jr if he doesn't. I am not even sure Andrade gets it all his own way against Eubank either. Jr isn't a great by any means, but he's got a good chin and he's a handful. Slippery or not, Andrade is no Saunders. Plus I reckon Eubank would love a crack at Andrade. Then whoever wins will be more likely to get a crack at the other belt holders, IF they want it.

With regards to Murata, he’s waiting on GGG. Japanese star vs half Korean star. It would be like printing money.

Jeff Navarro wrote:With regards to Murata, he’s waiting on GGG. Japanese star vs half Korean star. It would be like printing money.

He's been waiting a long time. He hasn't fought since the end of 2019...

As far as I’m aware Murata only recently got the full WBA, IBF doesn’t consider the regular belt a title so the unification was denied.
Murata is fighting in June.
GGG is supposedly fighting Munguia some time late summer.
Should GGG and Murata win they have agreed to fight on December 31 in Japan.

I've not heard anything about these fights. Got a source?

It was in the sports section in the latest edition of Health and Efficiency.

Mr Bounce wrote:I've not heard anything about these fights. Got a source?

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.boxingnews24.com/2021/04/gennady-golovkin-vs-ryota-murata-in-the-works-for-dec-31st-in-japan/%3famp

I’ve got no idea whom Murata will fight as his tune.
GGG vs Munguia seems fluid. Hearn claims It could be Andrade...I highly doubt it.

Derek Smalls wrote:It was in the sports section in the latest edition of Health and Efficiency.

Whatever that means....