brought up in his hometown of leeds, liam first started training in muay thai aged 13, when he joined the bad company gym in harehills. there he trained under richard smith, still his current trainer, who is a former british, commonwealth and european kickboxing champion. liam was large for his age and made his amateur debut aged 14, winning in a no head contact fight. he made his pro debut not much later, just before his fifteenth birthday, defeating martin shivnan via knockout in around 30 seconds. success on his pro debut lead to a number of victories on the local scene culminating in a bout for the s.i.m.t.a. northern area title, which he won against opponent abdul arif, again by first-round knockout.