Few could have anticipated the impact that Riyadh Season would have on professional boxing when two-time heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, and MMA superstar, Francis Ngannou, announced that they would meet in a cross discipline super fight back in October 2023.

Since then, Riyadh Season has revitalized the sport and provided countless fighters with the type of opportunities they could have only dreamt of.

Not many have seized their moment as emphatically or impressively as Hamzah Sheeraz, 21-0 (17 KOs).

Last June, the unbeaten middleweight was named as the captain of Team Queensberry for the ‘5 Vs. 5’ promotional clash with Matchroom and scored a career best win over Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams, stopping the previously unbeaten American in the eleventh round.

Three months later he was handed a prime spot of the undercard of the IBF heavyweight title fight between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium and blew away Tyler Denny in two rounds.

Those victories have led the 25 year-old back to Riyadh and, on Saturday night, he will take on the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Adames, 24-1 (18 KOs), for the WBC middleweight title.

The fight is part of a mammoth card which is headlined by the undisputed light heavyweight title rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. The event will be televised worldwide by DAZN from Saudi Arabia.

During an interview on the 6181 Boxing Podcast, Sheeraz told Jadene Angela that he is relishing the chance to prove his worth against an established champion on a such a massive stage.

“It means a lot because I've always said once I'm given the opportunities and the platforms, I’ll always deliver. I’ll make it my soul responsibility to deliver and that’s what I've been doing,” he said.

“Now I've got my biggest task ahead of me in Carlos Adames, a great fighter, a great champion but I wouldn't have it any other way.

“I’d like to beat a champion like him so no one can say otherwise when you win the belt, that it's been gifted to you or it was a vacant belt. This is a champion who's had a few defences who is a serious fighter.

“God willing, inshallah, I get the win and then I beat a legitimate champion and I’m the WBC middleweight champion of the world.”

Sheeraz has been in sensational form over the past twelve months.

His win over ‘Ammo ‘ Williams was sandwiched between a first round stoppage of former WBO super welterweight champion, Liam Williams, and that ruthless dismantling of European 160lb champion, Denny.

Those performances have shown Sheeraz at his dominating, imposing best but there have been a couple of moments in his career which suggest that he won’t be found wanting if and when things don’t go in his favour.

In December 2021, Sheeraz struggled through the first half of his fight with former British welterweight champion, Bradley Skeete,but persevered and eventually found his way to a ninth round stoppage.

Sheeraz has been excellent since moving up from 154lbs after that fight. Time can distort memories slightly, however, and although his victory over ‘Ammo’ Williams was eventually conclusive, he did have to navigate a couple of tricky early moments.

Provided the boxer and his team learn from them, those moments and lessons are far more beneficial than a problem free rise through the ranks which results in the fighter having to answer questions they haven’t studied for under the most intense pressure.

Experience has taught Sheeraz that the best laid plans can easily go to waste at the highest level and he isn’t nailing himself to a strategy for the fight with Adames.

“I think we're going to see things that I haven't done before.,” he continued. “We’re going to definitely see things I haven't done before because I know this is one of the fights where I'm going to have to pull out certain things that haven't been seen before. We’ll see what happens.

“I don't really have a plan saying that I'm going to go in my fight and I'm going to do exactly this because I never do. We have a rough estimate but it can go two ways, we either fight or we box or we do a bit of both.

“Let’s see what happens. I’m looking forward to it."