Hamzah Sheeraz

Mohammed Hamzah Sheeraz (born 25 May 1999) is a British professional boxer. He has held the Commonwealth middleweight title since 2022.

Early life
Sheeraz was born on 25 May 1999 in Ilford in London, England into a family of athletes from his father's side. Sheeraz’s paternal family originates from the village of Matore, in the Kahuta Tehsil, located in Rawalpindi District of Punjab, Pakistan, and his father was a cricketer who played for Gloucestershire. His paternal grandfather and uncle were both boxers, the latter winning ten national amateur titles for the Slough and Pinewood Star clubs. His mother has Indian roots and Sheeraz considers himself to be a Muslim.

Amateur career
Sheeraz was first directed to a gym by his uncle at the age of eight and had his first bout at 12. He went on to become a three-time finalist at the national junior championships. However, he became disillusioned with the sport after being overlooked for the Commonwealth Youth championships and took a year off to focus on an electrician's apprenticeship. A meeting with his then-trainer Lenny Butcher led him to come back and try his hand as a professional.

Professional career
Sheeraz turned professional in 2017, signing a deal with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions on his eighteenth birthday. He made his pro debut on 16 September 2017 on the undercard of the Billy Joe Saunders–Willie Monroe Jr. world title fight at the Copper Box Arena in London. He defeated 35-year-old journeyman Duane Green via technical knockout (TKO) in the second round for his first victory. By the beginning of 2019 he was sporting a 6–0 record. He dropped Rod Douglas Jr. three times en route to a first-round TKO in March before stopping Ladislav Nemeth in the second round of their April bout at Wembley Arena. He registered his third-straight TKO victory on 13 July, beating Scott James in under two minutes on the undercard of the Daniel Dubois–Nathan Gorman British heavyweight title fight at The O2 Arena in London.

On 30 November 2019, Sheeraz defeated "Ruthless" Ryan Kelly (14–2, 7 KO) by sixth-round TKO for the vacant WBO European junior-middleweight title. Late in the sixth round of their fight at Arena Birmingham, he dropped his opponent with a straight right hand. Kelly got up but was forced back onto the ropes as Sheeraz threw a barrage of punches that he was not able to overcome. The referee stopped the fight with two seconds left in the round, giving Sheeraz his first title belt as a professional. The win also moved him into the top 15 in the WBO rankings.

He retained his title with stoppage wins over Paul Kean on 10 July 2020, Guido Nicolas Pitto on 28 November 2020. and Ezequiel Gurria on 24 July 2021

Sheeraz defended his title for a fourth and final time against Bradley Skeete at the Copper Box Arena in London on 4 December 2021 winning the fight by stoppage in the ninth-round of a controversial contest which saw him docked a point in round eight for punching Skeete while he was on the canvas after being knocked down.

The UK Boxing Writers' Club voted Sheeraz as their 2021 Young Boxer of the Year.

Following the Skeete fight, Sheeraz vacated his title and moved up weight divisions for his next contest which saw him defeat Jez Smith by stoppage in the second round at Wembley Arena in London on 19 March 2022 to claim the vacant WBC International Silver middleweight title.

On 16 July 2022, he stopped Argentina's Francisco Emanuel Torres in the fifth-round at the Copper Box Arena to win the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title.

Sheeraz then closed out his 2022 campaign by defending his title and adding the vacant Commonwealth middleweight belt to his growing collection of championships thanks to a second-round stoppage success over River Wilson-Bent at The O2 Arena on 26 November.

Previously unbeaten Dmytro Mytrofanov was next to fall victim to Sheeraz's punching power as he was knocked out in round two of their bout in Poland on 26 August 2023.

He made even shorter work of opponent Liam Williams in his next contest knocking out the Welshman in round one at the Copper Box Arena on 10 February 2024.

On June 1, 2024 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sheeraz defeated Austin Williams via 11th-round TKO to win the WBC middleweight title eliminator.