between 2000 and 2004 liam established himself as the top fighter in the united kingdom in his weight class, having moved up from featherweight (52 kg/114.4 lbs) to light welterweight (63.5 kg/139.7 lbs]) and having beaten domestic and international competition including ait said aberderahman, preechapon por nuongubon, satoruvasikoba. at the end of 2004 harrison travelled to italy where he was supposed to face reigning champion massimo rizzoli for his w.a.k.o. low-kick kickboxing world title. rizzoli suffered an injury and liam faced the w.a.k.o. european champion emannuel di profetis instead. despite the late change of opponent and fighting in a rule set different from muay thai, harrison won the match by technical knockout to become world champion.