Hamzah Sheeraz proved why he is the number one ranked contender in the middleweight division. The young boxer didn’t disappoint fans who arrived in droves to cheer him on for his twenty-first professional bout. On the high-octane Anthony Joshua–Daniel Dubois undercard, Sheeraz came face-to-face with Tyler Denny. Already a WBC silver and Commonwealth middleweight title holder, the latest triumph saw the six-foot-tall middleweight become a European Boxing Union middleweight champion.

Considering his dreams of becoming a world champion, the win over Denny goes a long way in lending weight to Hamzah Sheeraz’s arguments for a near-future title shot. Needless to say, fans aside, several prominent voices took to their keyboards and penned their thoughts on his emphatic win. The Riyadh Season show is already done with a few fights and now awaits the ultimate showdown: Anthony Joshua versus Daniel Dubois.

Hamzah Sheeraz: A Performance To Remember

Hamzah Sheeraz didn’t have to walk for long to accomplish the feat. The nightmare for Tyler started from the opening round itself. Barely ten seconds after the first bell, the Rowley Regis resident found himself on the canvas as he missed to read an incoming left from Sheeraz.

Nevertheless, Tyler Denny stood up and resumed the fight. But the story didn’t change as Hamzah Sheeraz kept on throwing similar shots. It was clear that Denny was finding it difficult to beat his adversary’s reach to get inside and deliver a few damaging body shots. The Slough, Berkshire-born fighter, kept the pressure and maintained distance with his piercing jabs.

Initially, once the second round started, it appeared that Denny might have put aside the last round’s blues in the backburner. However, Hamzah Sheeraz soon found his way inside and took over the control. With some monute left in the round, a left-right combination once again found Denny on the canvas. Though he asserted that he could continue, his condition convinced referee Mark Bates to halt the fight.

Set the bar higher

Against 20% of Tyler Denny’s overall punches that landed, nearly 41% of his Hamzah Sheeraz’s punches found their mark. Needless to say, quite a few seemed convinced that the matchup was not an adequate one. Let’s check what some of them had to say.

According to this fan, Hamzah Sheeraz scored his twenty-first win with little effort. They said, “That’s was light work.” The next one also felt that it wasn’t really a tough challenge for Sheeraz. However, considering the winner’s height and build, they wondered for how long he would stick around in the middleweight division. This is what this fan stated: “Easy W, but a huge frame. See how long he stays at 160.”

Perhaps jesting, the next followed expressed a curiosity to know whether everyone—the attendees and the viewers—will have to wait an hour before the Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois fight starts. “Do we have to wait an hour now before AJ Dubois?” the user said. This follower took up the punch that did the job for Hamzah Sheeraz. The follower said, “Walloped him with the channel cross.” Finally, like many, this fan believes that the Sheeraz-Denny matchup was a disaster—a totally misaligned one. “Total mismatch,” this fan mentioned.

Following his victory, Hamzah Sheeraz shared his next course of action: “I’ll be I’m tired of calling for world title fights now, and like I said, whoever he puts in the ring with me, I’m coming here, and I’m getting knock out.”

So as the number one contender, is it going to be a title clash against champion Carlos Adames, the WBC champion, or Janibek Alimkhanuly, the WBO title holder? Or, as Sheeraz expressed his interest earlier, a fight against Chris Eubank Jr. makes a good case not only for his legacy but from a payday perspective as well. Any which way, fans’ expectations have soared to another level. So Hamzah Sheeraz will have to continue on his winning streak.

Who would you like Hamzah Sheeraz facing in his next bout?