Austin Williams contests for his second pro title when he faces Kieron Conway for the vacant WBA International middleweight belt on Saturday, September 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout is featured on the card headlined by a long awaited trilogy fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. The event airs live stream on DAZN.
Williams (11-0, 9 KOs) lifted his first strap, WBA Continental Americas title, last time out in April, when he stopped Chordale Booker in the opening round at Madison Square Garden in New York. He now meets Conway (18-2-1, 4 KOs) for the International title and looks to improve on his #6 rating with the WBA.
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Victory for Williams would be the latest step in a positive return to the ring for the Houston talent after he took time out from the sport in April 2021 to concentrate on his mental health. The 26-year-old has made some changes to his training team ahead of, but believes he’s in a great frame of mind in and out of the ring and will seize the chance to impress on a huge platform.
‘The brain is so complex you don’t really take time to sit with it and understand it’
“It is my honor and a dream come true to open up the Canelo vs. GGG III Pay-Per-View telecast,” said Williams. “I will deliver an unforgettable experience and capture my second consecutive title in the most sophisticated way imaginable.
“I fought on a Canelo card before and I got a brilliant reaction to my performance that night, so Eddie Hearn knows that the more energy that is in the place, the more I can use it and give it back to the fans.
“Eddie signed me as a young kid, I was just 22, and they introduced me to the world. Everyone has seen my maturation into a man, and the team understand that you sign kids, and you are watching them grow. You learn every day and you learn what you go through and become a man from it.
“I decided to make a change and go back to my regular team. I learned so much from Kevin Cunningham, it was a great place for me to be at the time with the struggles I went through with my mental health, to be with someone that is very structured.
“Kevin was in the military and a police officer; he’s lived in harsh environments and was the right man to polish me up and taught me a lot about the business. He saw I had the boxing ability and talent, he took another route and taught me the game, how much of boxing is in the mind, because he’s been there, and I was receptive to listening to it.
“I’ve had to prove my loyalty back to me team and show that I wanted to keep my ball rolling at a great pace. I was given the chance to go to south Florida and I always said the best thing for me is a great environment to keep me right in mind, body, and soul. So that was a real blessing, and he came into my life at the right time, and it was a mutual understanding to part ways.”
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“We all have stuff going on. The brain is so complex you don’t really take time to sit with it and understand it. Boxing is the loneliest sport in the world so we’re dealing with something that’s so high level, putting your life on the line for a living. You are out there to be judged in front of a crowd, your heart on your sleeve and showing your art to the world, and your physical health is attached to that.
“If you don’t learn how to manage that it’s so easy to fall into depression and things like that, so I love when athletes, especially boxers, open up and talk about it because acceptance is the first step to heal anything. People can think pushing things to one side and acting like nothing is wrong is the way to go, but it’s not at all and it pushes you to breaking point.
“It can be liberating, that’s how I feel now, because everybody knows me, to say ‘I’m not perfect’. I’m myself, I trust myself. I know what I need to do next, and I feel the confidence and courage to follow your dreams and be the author of your own book is the scariest thing to do, but the most fulfilling.”
Among other bouts featured on Canelo vs GGG 3 card, unbeaten Jesse Rodriguez (16-0, 11 KOs) defends his WBC super flyweight title against Israel Gonzalez (28-4-1, 11 KOs) and Ali Akhmedov (18-1 14 KOs) meets Gabriel Rosado (26-15-1 15 KOs) for the IBF North American super middleweight title. In addition, Diego Pacheco (15-0 12 KOs) goes up against Enrique Collazo (16-2-1, 11 KOs) for the WBC USNBC Silver super middleweight title.
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