Hamzah Sheeraz Transitions To Super Middleweight Division

Hamzah Sheeraz will be moving up to super middleweight to begin campaigning in this weight class after his abysmal effort against WBC 160-lb champion Carlos Adames last month.

Profit Path

Promoter Frank Warren told The Ring that Sheeraz, 25, will be moving to 168. This move makes sense for Sheeraz because he can line himself up for a colossal payday if he gets a title shot against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

Most fans would agree that Hamzah will do even worse at 168, but he has no real choice. There are no money opportunities at 160, and he’s clearly never going to win a world title against the existing champions in the division. At least if he moves up to super middleweight, he can get a big payday and then transition into celebrity-like matches.

Hamzah Sheeraz must be kept far away from these contenders because they would ruin his chances of getting a fight against Canelo:

– Diego Pacheco
– Osleys Iglesias
– Caleb Plant
– Christian Mbilli
– Jaime Munguia
– Bruno Surace: *This could be a winnable one
– Sergiy Derevyanchenko

Warren needs to treat these guys as the equivalent of the third rail and keep Hamzah far away from them if he wants to keep him winning long enough to get the giant payday fight against Canelo.

Obviously, you can’t match Sheeraz against light heavyweight killers like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Callum Smith, Joshua Buatsi, Anthony Yarde or Artur Beterbiev. He’s not built for that type of fighter.

The Blueprint

Look at Edgar Berlanga. He built up a flimsy record of 21 tomato cans and got picked out by Canelo last September, and got a huge $10 million payday. If it worked for Berlanga, it can too for Hamzah.

Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs) looked utterly out of his league against Adames, appearing to lose 11 of the 12 rounds, but the judges surprisingly scored the fight an unpopular 12-round draw. However, the fans saw that Hamzah was overmatched and viewed it as a loss.

Adames badly exposed Sheeraz in that fight, showing he doesn’t belong fighting for a world title against any champion. The thing is, Adames was viewed as the weakest link among the champions at 160, and Sheeraz looked gawdawful through.

Sheeraz could have fought IBF, and WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, or WBA champ Erislandy Lara. Those guys are considered the best fighters in the division, but Hamzaah would have been food for them.