Austin Williams has gotten his career back on track and is aiming for the big guns at middleweight, but first, he must fire Kieron Conway as he looks to claim back-to-back vacant titles on the undercard of the epic trilogy clash between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin. at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night (September 17).
Williams (11-0 9 KOs) clinched his first title in his last outing in April, outpointing Chordale Booker inside the first round to clinch the WBA Continental Americas title at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
‘Ammo’ now meets Conway for the WBA International Title and should improve his #6 ranking with the WBA if he can take out the Brit featured on his second Canelo Alvarez undercard.
Williams’ victory would be the latest step in a positive return to the ring for the Houston talent after he took a hiatus from the sport in April 2021 to focus on his mental health. The 26-year-old has made some changes to his training squad before but believes he is in a great frame of mind in and out of the ring and will take the opportunity to impress on a big platform.
“It is an honor and a dream come true to open the Pay-Per-View telecast of Canelo vs. GGG III,” Williams said. “I will deliver an unforgettable experience and capture my second consecutive title in the most sophisticated way imaginable.
“I’ve wrestled on a Canelo card before and got a brilliant reaction to my performance that night, so Eddie Hearn knows that the more energy there is in the room, the more I can use it and give it back to the fans.
“Eddie hired me when I was a kid, I was only 22 years old and they introduced me to the world. Everyone has seen me mature into a man, and the team understands that you’re signing kids and watching them grow up. You learn every day and you learn what you go through and you become a man from that.
“I decided to make a change and go back to my usual team. I learned a lot from Kevin Cunningham, it was a great place for me at the time with the struggles I went through with my mental health, to be with someone who is very structured.
“Kevin was in the military and he was a police officer; he has lived in harsh environments and was the right man to polish me up and teach me a lot about the business. He saw that he had the ability and the talent of boxing, he took another path and taught me the game, how much of boxing is in the mind, because he has been there and I was receptive to listening to him.
“I had to prove my loyalty to my team and show that I wanted to keep my ball rolling at a great pace. I was given the opportunity to go to South Florida and I always said that the best thing for me is a great environment to keep me well 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.
“We all have things to do. The brain is so complex that you don’t really take the time to sit down with it and understand it. Boxing is the loneliest sport in the world, which is why we are dealing with something at such a high level, risking your life to make a living. You are there to be judged in front of a crowd, with your heart in your hand and showing your art to the world, and your physical health is tied to that.
“If you don’t learn to deal with that, it’s very easy to fall into depression and things like that, so I love it when athletes, especially boxers, open up and talk about it because acceptance is the first step to healing anything. People may think that putting things aside and acting like nothing is wrong is the way to go, but it is not at all and it pushes you over the edge.
“It can be liberating, that’s how I feel right now, because everyone knows me, to say ‘I’m not perfect.’ I am myself, I trust myself. I know what I have to do next, and I feel that the confidence and courage to follow your dreams and be the author of your own book is the scariest thing, but the most satisfying.”
Williams’ clash with Conway is part of a big night of action in Las Vegas, capped off by the epic battle of the trilogy between Canelo and Golovkin.
