Trainer Urged Williams Against Boxing Comeback

Liam Williams has revealed his long-time trainer Gary Lockett discouraged him from making a boxing comeback.
Williams retired after a humbling first-round defeat by Hamzah Sheeraz in February 2024, citing fears over chronic traumatic encephalopathy, external (CTE) after suffering “several concussions”.
Last week the former world title challenger announced his comeback and has since told BBC Sport: “I feel like a new man.”
“I wouldn’t want to look back in a couple of years when it’s too late and wish I had a couple more fights,” said Williams.
But the 33-year-old’s decision was not initially backed by his coach.
Lockett threw in the towel to save his fighter from further punishment against Sheeraz after he was put down twice in the opening round at London’s Copper Box Arena.
Afterwards, he agreed with Williams’ own assessment that he was “done”.
Although the pair remained close, the former middleweight’s return to Lockett’s gym in Cardiff earlier this year was met with a cold shoulder.
“Gary didn’t want to train me. He said: ‘I’m not really interested’,” Williams recalled.
“He told me I was a good friend, it’s not just a boxer-coach relationship, and said ‘I care about you dearly’.”
Lockett’s duty of care towards his fighter was unsurprising.
He saw first-hand the dangers of boxing, having been in Nick Blackwell’s corner when he suffered a bleed on the skull against Chris Eubank Jr in 2016, which left him in an induced coma for more than two weeks.
Blackwell was also a stablemate of Williams.
“Gary said to me: ‘Leave it alone. You have had some great nights, you have had a great career. You have got nothing else to prove, you can stay happily retired.'”