Liam wants to make Telford boxing more famous than the Iron Bridge tourist trap

Liam, Tristan (right) and the rest of the team with all the belts

MOST outside the West Midlands know Telford for only one famous landmark, the ancient iron bridge which spans the Severn at Ironbridge.

Liam Davies is a man on a mission: to make people remember his district for its fighters first, the metal structure second.

The 27-year-old, from Telford’s Donnington suburb, takes another step towards that goal on November 18 when he puts his European title on the line against unbeaten Italian Vincenzo La Femina at Manchester Arena.

And Telford will definitely be declared a national fight hub should everything go to plan and Liam lifts a world title next year.

It’s hoped Davies, winner of all 14 contest and fresh from a breath-taking one round demolition of Jason Cunningham in July, will fight for a version of the world crown when all-conquering champ Naoya Inoue vacates, as he’s indicated.

He wants to fight for the biggest prize in Telford.

But Davies is not looking past La Famina, who has won seven of his 13 fights by stoppage, but fought outside Italy only once.

Tristan Davies – Liam’s father and trainer – is confident the 29-year-old will be despatched.

“I don’t know a lot about him,” Tristan admitted. “He’s game and strong and has seven knockouts out of 13. If I was a betting man, I’d say Liam beats him in four to six rounds. It could even be two to four or another first round demolition. If he doesn’t go straight away, he’ll go later on.

“Liam’s sparred (world flyweight champ) Sunny Edwards and is going to spar (Birmingham feather) Nyall Berry, who has the same size and build as the Italian.”

Liam, Tristan stressed, is only getting better.

“He watches the old fighters and sees what they do well,” he said. “He tries stuff and sees what works for him and what doesn’t work for him. He’s always doing something different. I suppose, his best performance was the last one, I said four rounds max. This one could be the same, it’s down to the resilience of the bloke.

“The only time I’ve been nervous before one of Liam’s fights was the English title fight (Liam stopped Sean Cairns in 2020) because Liam had a bad shoulder and we took the gamble because we knew we wouldn’t get the opportunity again.

“We took our opportunity and the shoulder held up.

“I don’t get nervous because the better he gets, the more help he gets. Now there’s a physio, a nutritionist…It’s good to see so many people helping. Of course, there’s a lot more haters, you’re always going to get that.”

Tristan added: “In the 1990s, Telford had Richie Woodhall, now it’s the 2020s and you have Liam. People only really know Telford for the Iron Bridge, maybe in the future they’ll know it for its boxers.”