Demetrius Andrade v Liam Williams preview: Williams will need to be flawless if he is to conquer the world

After three years of work following consecutive losses to Liam Smith for the WBO interim light-middleweight belt, Liam Williams finally gets his shot at redemption as he takes on WBO middleweight Champion Demetrius Andrade in Florida on Saturday night.

With both men providing explosive, hard-hitting styles, it’s a great match-up that should result in a thrilling fight whatever the result. We preview all the action below.

Andrade is the full package

Any notion of Williams heading to Florida for an easy night’s work should be dispelled quickly. Demetrius Andrade has ploughed through all comers since making his debut in 2008 and goes into this one defending his perfect 29-0 record as well as his belt.

He showed his full arsenal in his last outing against Luke Keeler, knocking down his opponent with the very first punch of the fight. He rushed in an attempt to get the finish for the rest of round one, but regained his composure in round two, landing a series of trademark overhand lefts to knock Keeler down for a second time. Although it took him until round nine to finish the fight, he showed patience as well as skill to make a statement to the division. 18 of his 29 wins have come via KO/TKO and that’s unsurprising given much of his game revolves around creating opportunities to land his big left-hand shots. He’s currently 11/4 to win via KO/TKO/DQ.

He also showed patience against Maciej Sulecki back in 2019, who was again knocked down early in round one but survived an onslaught from Andrade. Sulecki would come back into the fight though, forcing the Champion to fight behind his jab and utilise his superior footwork. Andrade would seal a unanimous decision victory and really show that he has the full package at the highest level. Andrade is a rightful 2/7 favourite to win on the night and retain his WBO middleweight belt.

Williams will need to be flawless

Liam Williams will be fully prepared for the difficulty of the task that lies ahead of him but will take solace from Andrade’s last two performances. The champion again will likely come out of the blocks fast and look to finish the fight in round one if he can. However, if the Welshman can weather an early storm whilst taking minimal damage, he will get an opportunity to work himself into the fight in rounds three to five.

The question from there will be how Andrade’s tricky southpaw style matches up with William’s more traditional set up. Williams certainly has the power to cause Andrade problems himself, each of his wins on his consecutive run of seven have come via KO/TKO. He’ll look to establish his jab if he can, and if he’s able to find a home for a straight right hand that will be an effective weapon against Andrade’s set-up, we could see him take a KO/TKO/DQ victory himself at 7/2.

Although his last outing with Andrew Robinson only lasted less than 90 seconds, Williams will still be glad for having been in the ring and been through the fight camp process recently, with Andrade fighting for the first time since January 2020. Ring rust could therefore become a factor if the fight moves into the later rounds, with Williams currently 13/5 to land the biggest win of his career to date.

Check out all the latest boxing betting odds at William Hill