Hamzah Sheeraz is the new WBO super middleweight champion after crushing the badly overmatched Alem Begic inside two rounds.
This was one-way traffic from the very start as The Ring’s No. 10-rated 168-pounder Sheeraz (23-0-1, 19 KOs) proved that 39-year-old Begic was not worthy of his place in this clash for the vacant title.
The German had never lost before he arrived in Egypt but he had simply never mixed with anyone approaching Sheeraz’s class — and it showed.
The man from Ilford, Essex still had a job to do but now he can look ahead to some huge unification fights in a division that still houses arguably the biggest name in the sport, Canelo Alvarez.
Sheeraz said: “I did what I was meant to do tonight, let’s not get it twisted but now it has got me to the world stage, officially. Now I’m calling on all 168-pounders. I’ll fight anyone. I’m going to collect all the belts and Inshallah, this time next year Hamzah Sheeraz will be undisputed champion.”
This fight had been a long time coming given that it was still 2025 when Terence Crawford retired from the sport, thus vacating his super-middleweight titles in the wake of his September victory over Canelo.
Sheeraz had originally been ordered to face Diego Pacheco for the vacant title but the American decided to withdraw from that fight in January. Instead, the WBO’s No. 4 Begic was put forward to face No. 2 Sheeraz and it was swiftly earmarked for a place on the “Glory in Giza” card topped by Oleksandr Usyk’s world heavyweight title defense against Rico Verhoeven.
And this was not Sheeraz’s first rodeo given that he faced Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight title in Riyadh 15 months ago. He drew that night but admitted he was lucky not to lose. Regardless, he did not do enough to claim Adames’ belt.
The performance, which was badly affected by his murderous cut to 160 pounds, was the prelude to a complete overhaul. He relocated to Dubai, employed Andy Lee as trainer and also headed north to 168 pounds.
He showed a glimpse of his progress under Lee, the Dublin-based trainer, when he crushed Edgar Berlanga inside five rounds on “Ring III” last summer. He has been waiting around ever since but insisted that there was far more to come once he and Lee truly gelled.
The Irishman, a famous product of the Kronk Gym, and himself a former WBO champion had been tasked with producing even more power from the tall, rangey frame of Sheeraz, in the opening round at the Pyramids as the left-handed, orthodox Sheeraz got straight to work behind his ramrod jab. In fact, he barely used the right hand at all, but varied his lead hand to great effect. He won the round big but was not even out of second gear.
Begic knew he had to do something different but that amounted to simply walking into range with his hands up in a punishing second. At one point, Sheeraz landed five left hooks in a row. At that point, the second round had barely started but it already seemed like a case of when, not if, Sheeraz was going to win by stoppage.
And so it proved. After much headhunting, Sheeraz decided to switch his attack to the body and, with 37 seconds left of the round, it was a left hook to the German’s body which ended the fight. This was target practice from the off, and Sheeraz found the bullseye.
“It was simple,” Sheeraz said. “I saw he was very negative as soon as I landed the first punch so it was just a case of walking him down and getting him out of there.”
So, at the second time of asking, Sheeraz is world champion and Lee has his first world champion as a coach.
Sheeraz added: “It’s crazy when you say it. It’s props to Andy. I cannot thank him enough.”
Source: ringmagazine.com