Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz | PPV - 22 February 2025

[golden_labrador]

Anyone seen the footage of Turki telling Hamzah he’s down by 2 rounds?

Was this just him looking at scorecards between rounds cus he’s the boss? Or Cus of WBC open scoring?

Maybe he was referring to Mannix's scorecards, which are essentially public?

Turki definitely takes sides, and Adames was clearly robbed of his win. But his preferred fighters have lost multiple times now, so I don’t agree with those saying the robbery was planned.

Let’s not pretend the U.S. is known for fair judging either.

dodgy scoring would never happen here in the UK

[Sendo Takeshi]

dodgy scoring would never happen here in the UK

Never

[TheLeprechaun]

Sheeraz was way overhyped. We saw it in the Skeete fight but Skeete didn't have the strength and stamina to keep it going for the long haul. Adames was robbed as far as I'm concerned and Sheeraz was clueless in there. He doesn't have the tools that the top fighters have. It looked like all he could do was fight negatively and try to nick the fight. You can see why Janibek was ducked by Sheeraz. He is also going to have to stay at that weight despite his height and body possibly outgrowing it because he will get mullered up at the higher weights. He doesn't really do anything special in the ring at all. They will have excuses about this being injured and the weight being tough and this and that but the chap just isn't good enough to compete at the higher level.

[magnus]

I think Sheeraz has developed a fair bit since he got away with it against Skeete, I also think he's more than young enough to continue to improve, but, with the benefit of (massive amounts) of hindsight, his match-making at Middleweight wasn't enough to prepare him for a guy who's been in with and beaten the likes of Williams, Gausha, Derevyanchenko and Montiel.

Sheeraz's only comparable win was Ammo Williams, and he was hardly proven. Denny is a tough night for most but at domestic level, and the wins over the shell of Liam Williams and some obscure unbeaten midget won't have taught him much.

I thought he would win tbh, but I do think yet again it's an example of how some British fighters find themselves in world title shots without the necessary experience to help them through (see A.Yarde).

[dr_devious]

Sheeraz got a fluke draw the other night and he's the most insipid title contender I've seen probably since Johnny Nelson v De Leon.

[Taansend]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

[coneye]

Anyone seen the footage of Turki telling Hamzah he’s down by 2 rounds?

Was this just him looking at scorecards between rounds cus he’s the boss? Or Cus of WBC open scoring?

Maybe he was referring to Mannix's scorecards, which are essentially public?

Turki definitely takes sides, and Adames was clearly robbed of his win. But his preferred fighters have lost multiple times now, so I don’t agree with those saying the robbery was planned.

Let’s not pretend the U.S. is known for fair judging either.

dodgy scoring would never happen here in the UK

You owe me a coffee . Just spat some of mine across the room
Neaŕly choked laughing on the rest :

[Jimmy2025]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

Realistically Britain has never had the best middleweight in the world.

[Coco]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

Realistically Britain has never had the best middleweight in the world.

Yes WBO middle, lost it to Steve Collins

[TheLeprechaun]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

Realistically Britain has never had the best middleweight in the world.

Turpins win over SRR is the best win by a British middleweight. He got mullered in the rematch but won the first fight fairly. For that brief period, he deserved to be seen as the number 1 middleweight. He was a very awkward customer.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

[Jimmy2025]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

Realistically Britain has never had the best middleweight in the world.

Turpins win over SRR is the best win by a British middleweight. He got mullered in the rematch but won the first fight fairly. For that brief period, he deserved to be seen as the number 1 middleweight. He was a very awkward customer.

Can't agree with that. Turpin was Ray's 10th fight of the year (and it was only July) and 5th within a month. He was burning the candle at both ends on his tour. No chance was Turpin the best in the world. None whatsoever. It wasn't as good a win as people like to think.

[JC]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

Bob Fitzsimmons

[TheLeprechaun]

Realistically Britain has never had the best middleweight in the world.

Turpins win over SRR is the best win by a British middleweight. He got mullered in the rematch but won the first fight fairly. For that brief period, he deserved to be seen as the number 1 middleweight. He was a very awkward customer.

Can't agree with that. Turpin was Ray's 10th fight of the year (and it was only July) and 5th within a month. He was burning the candle at both ends on his tour. No chance was Turpin the best in the world. None whatsoever. It wasn't as good a win as people like to think.

Well I agree with your post entirely. I was just making the point that Turpin was rightfully considered number 1 and won that fight fair and square. If we were transported back into 1951 and having this conversation on a boxing forum at that time, plenty would be on here saying Turpin was the best.

In the rematch SRR had a full camp, home soil, and a first fight to rewatch and make a solid gameplan from. Turpin was out of his league and it showed. I'm not saying Turpin was better than SRR, but unlike most of the loses on SRRs record, it wasn't a robbery.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Commission, WBC refute that Turki Alalshikh knew Carlos Adames-Hamzah Sheeraz score

Whether it was the momentum shifts in the Callum Smith-Joshua Buatsi thriller, the cinematic collapse of Martin Bakole, or the incredible level of skill on display between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, the ‘Last Crescendo’ card provided plenty of memorable moments.

Yet the somewhat tentative performance of Hamzah Sheeraz against WBC middleweight belt-holder Carlos Adames left some observers puzzled and frustrated, not least Turki Alalshikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and a crucial cog in the matchmaking wheel for the event.

Footage emerged on social media, which soon went viral, of Alalshikh making his way to the Englishman’s corner where he then attempted to tell the boxer he was down by two points.

“Two points,” he said with one hand on the ring apron and the other holding up two fingers, “You’re losing, two points… You must [indecipherable] him. You’re losing, two points.”

Alalshikh, with increasing urgency, then relays the same information to a member of Sheeraz’s corner team. “He must [indecipherable] him. Two points. Tell him. Two points. Tell him. Tell him!”

That level of interference from a figure frequently described as the most influential in boxing, and therefore someone who should remain impartial to avoid any suggestion of skulduggery, can be deemed as overstepping the mark. It is reasonable to conclude from the exchange that Alalshikh wanted victory only for Sheeraz, an ambassador for Riyadh Season.

The notion that he knew the score, however, is likely a falsehood. Robert Smith was out in Saudi Arabia in his role as general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, the commissioners of the event, and told BS: “He didn’t come anywhere near the scoring table so I simply can’t see how he could have known what the scores were. Even if he did approach the scoring table he would have been moved on.

“There are also three scores, not one, and Sheeraz wouldn’t have been two points down on all three scorecards.

“Another factor to consider is the amount of time he would have had to do that between rounds. The judges’ cards are collected at the end of each round and the scores are then separately transferred to the running totals. That process takes most of the minute break, it’s nonsensical to suggest that he would have been able to see the score without being noticed and then have time to relay his findings to Sheeraz.”

“Either he believed that Sheeraz was losing and conveyed that opinion – or he’d seen the score on one of the television broadcasts and was relaying that.”

Sources close to the action have claimed that Alalshikh had access to the DAZN coverage via a monitor in front of his seat. However, upon reviewing the footage, Alalshikh can be seen to leave his seat with 30 seconds remaining in the 10th round before he arrives at Sheeraz’s corner at the start of the interval before the 11th. At that moment, with two rounds to go, DAZN’s Chris Mannix had Adames up by four points.

BS understands that Alalshikh’s explanation of the incident is that he was offering his own opinion on who was winning the fight and, in turn, attempting to inject some urgency into Sheeraz’s performance. After all, Alalshikh was surely keen for his event to live up to the hype that it was the best in boxing history. The bout between Adames and Sheeraz was certainly lacking the drama that occurred in the bouts that both preceded and followed it. He can be seen on his feet in the 11th, visibly unhappy with the action – or lack of.

“I didn’t notice the incident at the time,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told BS. “I don’t think he knew the scores but was instead expressing his opinion that Sheeraz was behind. The scores are handled by the BBBoC and the WBC supervisor. I was just behind them and never saw anyone approaching to see or inquire about the scores.”

Whatever the truth, neither Sulaiman nor Smith saw anything untoward in Alalshikh’s actions.

“Every fight I see promoters and managers scream, cheer and instruct their fighters,” said Sulaiman.

“Promoters and managers have always told their fighters they’re behind or they need to win the next round,” added Smith. “Mickey Duff used to do it all the time and, on Saturday, Frank [Warren] himself told Sheeraz he needed to win the next round. It is not unusual.”

The incident likely garnered more attention due to the contest, predominantly controlled by Adames, then being ruled a controversial draw. Italy’s Guido Cavalleri, to everyone’s surprise, scored the contest 115-114 in Sheeraz’s favor while Mexico’s Omar Mintun Snr had the fighters level at 114-114. America’s Barry Lindenman seemed to get it about right as he scored it 118-110 for Adames.

Judging by those totals, and throwing in some basic mathematics, the only score that could feasibly have Sheeraz down by two points after 10 rounds was Mintun Snr’s. Again, any evidence of Alalshikh being privy to the scores is largely non-existent.

At the time of this writing there are no plans to investigate any further. Though Smith felt the draw was the wrong decision, Sulaiman said: “The fight was very close in my opinion, but Adames didn’t lose. I am happy he came out with the belt.”

Happier than Alalshikh appeared to be, that’s for sure.

[jtourettes]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

[golden_labrador]

Maybe he was referring to Mannix's scorecards, which are essentially public?

Turki definitely takes sides, and Adames was clearly robbed of his win. But his preferred fighters have lost multiple times now, so I don’t agree with those saying the robbery was planned.

Let’s not pretend the U.S. is known for fair judging either.

dodgy scoring would never happen here in the UK

You owe me a coffee . Just spat some of mine across the room
Neaŕly choked laughing on the rest :

[dr_devious]

Any news on the broken hand? Was it the left or right? Or neither?

Hopefully he's not out too long & comes back to win a title.

How many British middleweights have won the world title anyway?

Off the top of my head it's Turpin, Downes, Minter, Benn, Eubank & Barker. I'm sure I'm missing a couple though. Did Chris Pyatt win one?

Realistically Britain has never had the best middleweight in the world.

Bob Fitzsimmons