LIAM DAVIES PLANNING TITLE TRIBUTE

LIAM DAVIES IS on a personal mission to win the British title in honour of his late grandfather, who inspired him to take up the sport.

Local man Davies takes on the champion Marc Leach for the Lonsdale belt at super bantamweight on June 11 at the Telford International Arena.

Davies, 26, visited his grandfather’s resting place three weeks ago and vowed not to return without the spoils of British title success. The 11-0 former holder of the WBC International Silver title attributes his accomplishments in boxing to both his grandfather and dad Tristan, who currently trains him.

Liam Davies was talking to Dev Sahni. Click to watch full interview.

“I lost my grandad before and I fell out of love with the sport,” reflected Davies of his family’s loss in 2011.

“My dad was a boxer at the time and when he took over the coaching everything was new. We’ve landed on our feet now, we’ve come a long way together and now we are reaping the rewards.

“He deserves it, we put in a lot of hours in the gym with a lot of kids and I’m glad we can be on this journey together.

“The win is going to be big for the whole family because boxing is a big part of family life for us. I am flying the flag at the minute and I have got that bit between my teeth to make them all proud.

“With my dad we have come a long way and now we’re near the top of the mountain. We have just got these last few steps to get through and we’re there.

“My dad and my grandad are the main reasons and I have always been in boxing because of those two.

“My grandad played a big part in my boxing, he was there from the start and we had a great relationship too. It saddens me sometimes that he is not here to see all this. I hope, wherever he is, he is looking down and is proud.

“I want to take the British title to him. I took the English and the British is next. Let’s see who can stop me from doing that. I don’t think there are many.”

Tickets for the show at Telford International Centre on Saturday, 11 June are on sale, available from Ticketmaster.co.uk.

LIAM DAVIES WILL challenge new champion Marc Leach for the British super bantamweight title on a big night of title action at the Telford International Arena on Saturday June 11, live on BT Sport.

In the other half of a British title double header, Birmingham’s Ijaz Ahmed and London’s Kaisy Khademi will go at it for a third time with the vacant super flyweight belt at stake and a final eliminator for a shot at the Commonwealth championship.

And in a fight where prospects put it all on the line, the unbeaten super lightweight Eithan James (8-0) from Northampton goes up against Connor Parker (13-1, 1 KO), Zach Parker’s cousin from Woodville in Derbyshire, in an eliminator for the English title. The Telford card also marks the return of former World Amateur champion Willy Hutchinson (13-1, 9 KOs) at light heavyweight following his unsuccessful tilt at the British super middleweight title against Lennox Clarke in March of last year.

Dubliner Willo Hayden (3-0, 1 KO) will continue his development at lightweight, along with Liverpool lightweight Callum Thompson (3-0, 1 KO) and Atherstone welterweight banger George Bance (3-0, 1 KO).

Bury’s 2016 Olympian Muhammad Ali (3-0) will have his fourth fight at super featherweight over four rounds, while Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor (2-0, 1 KO), Telford bantamweight Raheem Muhammed (1-0) and Dewsbury super welterweight Amaar Akbar (2-0) will also be in action.

Tickets for the show at Telford International Centre on Saturday, 11 June are on sale, available from Ticketmaster.co.uk.