Carlos Adames vs Hamzah Sheeraz WBC special fight preview
Carlos Adames vs Hamzah Sheeraz fight preview, betting odds, prediction
Meddling with middling distance, by James Blears
WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames defends his Green and Gold Belt against lanky Hamzah Sheeraz on a night, which will be long remembered at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, February 22nd, live on DAZN.
It's part of a star-studded gala of scraps and scrapes, led by the much-anticipated rematch of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol for the Undisputed light-heavyweight championship.
The card is called 'The Last Crescendo', featuring six world title fights, one less than originally scheduled due to the late withdrawal of IBF World heavyweight champion, Daniel Dubois.
The Adames vs Sheeraz fight is a collision to watch out for, as it's a sure-fire molten slugfest. You can bet the house it won't go the distance! Not the way that these two men fight. Each will go for broke and there will be a point when caution is thrown to the wind.
Both love nothing better than to attack flat out in order to flatten, seldom taking a step backwards. But their uncompromising styles do markedly differ.
With the champion Carlos, it's inevitably an in-your-face war of attrition. He loves nothing better than to batter a foe toe-to-toe, from pillar to post, hurling two-fisted punches in high-volume clusters from close range.
This non-stop cascade and a deceptively better than expected pivotal defence involving parrying, harrying and cat-like reflexes, means that he lands considerably more than comes back the other way.
It affords any given opponent on the receiving end very little time to think or gain any composure or respite to consider their next move, as they're in the midst of a maelstrom, fighting the fight of their lives.
There are slow starters, but Carlos, who is from the Dominican Republic but now based in Washington Heights, New York, isn’t one of them.
He's like an express train from the off. He's a dynamo and a windmill, ready to sail into any given opponent. Standing 5' 11" tall with a reach of 73", he doesn't need to fight this way, he just loves the onslaught style. With a record of 24-1, 18 KOs, it's amassed him a considerable KO ratio of 75%.
Hamzah Sheeraz, who is from Ilford, Ebgland, is undefeated with a bristling record of 21-0, 17 KOs. His KO tally amounts to 81% percent.
For a middleweight, he's a giant, standing 6'3" tall with a reach of 75". Height-wise, he has a four-inch advantage over Carlos. Reach-wise he has a two-inch extra wingspan.
The son of a former professional cricketer, Hamzah really middles when taking down opponents, with battery style precision. Hamzah likes to pot shot opponents from middle range, softening them up with searing and sinking body shots, rattling their ribcage and liver, then moving upstairs.
Still only 25, which is five years younger than the champion, if he progresses, fills out more and bulks up a tad, he could seamlessly move up in weights to super-middle and light-heavyweight.
Being so tall and slender for the division, his legs aren’t as oak-like sturdy as those of Carlos. In winning the vacant WBC Silver title in 2022 against rugged Argentinian Francisco Emanuel Torres, he got careless and was dropped in the third round, but got up and finished the fight with a TKO in the fifth, having decked Torres three times.
He couldn't afford to make such a mistake against Carlos Adames, who hits considerably harder, is more experienced and doesn't tend to let rivals off the hook. A mistake of that magnitude at this rarefied level would be difficult to reverse.
Promoted by Frank Warren, Hamzah is no stranger to Riyadh. As recently as June last year, he was there to successfully defend his WBC Silver crown by stopping unbeaten Austin 'Ammo' Williams in the 11th.
His last appearance was on the Dubois-Joshua Wembley Stadium card in September, collecting the European middleweight belt with a quick second-round KO of in-form fighter, Tyler Denny.
The unbeaten Brit is well aware of the magnitude of the task ahead of him, saying, "I'm under no illusions of what is in front of me, but I'm ready to do the business. Ever since I was eight, I wanted to win the Green and Gold Belt. If I'm not ready now, I'll never be. I'm still a baby in the sport, but on February 22nd, I get my biggest opportunity. It will be my toughest test to date."
30-year-old Carlos has notched big wins against higher quality opposition, namely Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Juan Macias Montiel and Julian Williams.
He did come unstuck once, losing a lethargic MD to Patrick Teixeira for the WBO super-welterweight Interim title, over five years ago.
Afterwards, he moved up to middleweight, where he doesn`t have to struggle with the scales. It paid dividends as in his next fight he won the WBC Interim middleweight title with a TKO over Juan Carlos Montiel in the third round.
Carlos was upgraded to Absolute Champion, after Jermall Charlo became Champion in recess. So far, Carlos has successfully defended his laurels once, winning a UD over the rugged Terrell Gausha last June.
The key to this fight will be if Carlos can navigate and negate the distance, transforming this into a close quarters eyeball to eyeball war of optics. Hamzah`s success would lie in blockbusters to the body in order to blunt the ferocity of the champion and then measuring him with longer straight-armed artillery.
It`s going to be a battle of willpower. Woever can successfully implement their game plan will control the course of the contest. That, perhaps, goes without saying, but if Adames can get onn the inside and rough Sheeraz up, then he will make it terribly uncomfortable for him from the off.
But if the challenger can use his superior reach and hit and not get hit, keeping the fight at the distance he requires to do his best work at mid to long range, then he will be heading to an early win.
When Carlos Adames and Hamzah Sheeraz fight, it will be a red-hot test of firepower, but also a severe and exacting examination of willpower laid bare.
Many are in agreement that this one will not be reaching the final bell!
Betting Odds
21/10 Adames
4/11 Sheeraz
25/1 Draw
Top Tip: Sheeraz in Rounds 4-6 - 6/1
Prediction
Tim Rickson, BBN Editor: "For me, Sheeraz is one of the leading British boxing prospects and destined to become a world champion. There's a lot of up and coming boxers that people can get carried away with, but I knew early on that Sheeraz was going to live up to the hype even before he got to the levels where you really find out about someone.
"He has stopped his last 15 opponents in a row. That's evidence that he has found his groove, he really knows his own style and what he's capable of and when to pull the trigger. The contrast of styles will see lots of openings for both boxers. If Adames powers forwards like he is known for and Sheeraz is able to work at mid-range, then I think there will be some big openings for the Brit to exploit.
"He averages a knockout every four rounds. With no disrespect to Adames, but doe to their clash of styles, I could see Sheeraz scoring an early knockout, in the first half of the contest. Adames has never been stopped, so this could certainly go longer, but I'm predicting a KO win to Sheeraz, regardless."
