It is now 10 years since West Ham United left their spiritual home at Upton Park to relocate to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

But while the Hammers’ former ground played host to memorable fights like David Haye against Derek Chisora and Kevin Mitchell against Michael Katsidis, their new stadium is yet to stage a boxing event.


Now Liddard, a die-hard West Ham fan, wants to be the man to get boxing back on the agenda at his club.

“That is definitely my dream,” he tells The Ring. “That’s the goal and I feel like I have to do that.


“What a story that would be to tell the grandkids and even taking my future children to West Ham and telling them their dad sold this place out. It’s legacy and it’s going to happen someday.

“I believe in these things and that it will happen. I will get my shot. They’ve never had a fight there but I’ll be the man to change that.”

Before any of that, red-hot favourite Liddard (13-0, 8 KOs) has to take care of business at the Copper Box where he is set to face former European champion Tyler Denny (21-3-3, 1 KO). The pair will meet for Liddard’s British and Commonwealth titles in the main event of this Matchroom show live on DAZN.

Since his debut in November 2022, Liddard has made a rapid ascent to his current position and, at 23 years old, he is the youngest middleweight to hold both British and Commonwealth titles concurrently. 



He won the titles by stopping defending champion Kieron Conway at York Hall in October and there would be no easy first defence with awkward southpaw Denny brought in to face him this Saturday. But Liddard, who has his sights set firmly on the world title picture, believes a fight with Denny will prepare him for the men currently dominating the division.

He said: “You’ve got Janibek Alimkhanuly, still WBO champion, southpaw. There’s Erislandy Lara, WBA champion, southpaw. Carlos Adames, WBC champion, fights both ways. Even Jesus Ramos who just won the interim title is a southpaw.

“To me a fight is a fight, southpaw or orthodox, but there are a lot of southpaws at the top at the minute so why not get some experience against a high-level southpaw myself?

“There’s no point dodging or ducking them,  I need to tick off as many things as I can on my way up and this will be another piece of experience for me.”

But while he has his eye on the current middleweight champions, Liddard believes there is an imminent sea change at the top of the division which he will benefit from.

The future for Alimkhanuly is unclear after he was stripped of his IBF title in the wake of a failed VADA test while 42-year-old Lara is currently the oldest champion in boxing.

“It’s a division that needs a clear up,” Liddard said. “It feels like it’s almost the perfect time for a new star to come around. I feel like it’s a bit lacklustre at the moment. It's a far cry from when people like Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez were champions.

“I feel like it’s waiting for a star to come through and I’ve always thought ‘why not me?’ Why can’t I be the man to bring the big nights back to 160 pounds?

“I will be in due time and within the next couple of years there’s going to be some big things and some very big nights ahead for me at 160 but I’m not looking too far ahead.

“Tyler Denny is stopping me from going onto bigger levels so I need to remove him from the equation first. I believe I get the job done comfortably.”