Hamzah Sheeraz has provided an injury update after his bid to snatch WBC middleweight gold from Carlos Adames was overshadowed by contentious scoring.
Sheeraz seemingly broke his left hand early in his bout with Adames, on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2, with the fight going all 12 rounds before being ruled a split draw.
Fans were vocally dismayed by the decision, overwhelmingly seeing Adames as the rightful victor by a significant margin. This was an opinion held by one of the judges, who scored the fight 118-110 in favour of Adames, but the two other judges scored the contest 115-114 for Sheeraz and 114-114 respectively.
While escaping defeat might have softened the blow of missing out on the title for Sheeraz, who stayed unbeaten, all is far from perfect in the Briton’s camp coming out of the clash in Riyadh.
Promoter Frank Warren took to social media on Wednesday to share an update on Sheeraz’s physical condition, posting a photo of Sheeraz holding his hands side by side. The left hand had visibly ballooned, having reportedly broken early in the fight.
Warren went on to quell any fears that his fighter’s injury will stall his push for global stardom, writing on X: “Once healed, I have no doubt Hamzah will become a world champion.”
Some may question whether Sheeraz’s early injury could have been the defining factor in his draw, with Adames’s champion status never truly looking under threat on Saturday.
Sheeraz himself was quick to dismiss his injury, saying: “No excuses, I’ve got a hand injury but that’s got nothing to do with the outcome of the fight. I’m an overachiever. I’m very blessed but we’ll go back to the drawing board and fix those errors.”
Talk of the injury woes being the decisive factor would also be a disservice to Adames. The champion weathered a positive start from Sheeraz before taking control, outworking his opponent as the fight went the distance. He boasted nearly double the power shots, registering 90 compared to Sheeraz’s 48.
Despite the judges’ verdict, the consensus was that Sheeraz was well beaten. It was a sentiment echoed by Adames, who said: “In the end, I think I won. It was a really complicated fight, but yeah, I think I won.”
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