Former rugby union and league star Sonny Bill Williams is set to face one of Aotearoa’s best-ever combat sportsmen, Mark Hunt, in a boxing match later this year.
The fight between two Kiwi legends will take place on November 5th across the ditch at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.
Sonny Bill has been slowly but surely making a name for himself in the boxing world, currently boasting a 9 - 0 record.
In his most recent fight, he made light work of former Aussie Rules player Barry Hall, knocking him down three times in the first round, with the fight finishing within the first two minutes.
Hunt’s last fight was back in 2020, where he met NRL great Paul Gallen in the ring. The ‘Super Samoan’ put up a valiant effort, going the full six rounds with Gallen, but the Aussie ended up winning by unanimous decision.
It was a hell of a fight - Fox Sports Australia called it a “thrilling bloodbath” - with Hunt landing some absolutely massive blows to Gallen who managed to stay up and land plenty of shots himself.
Sonny Bill and Gallen have been linked for a professional scrap for a while now, but with the fight vs Hunt being announced, it seems like it might not happen. Gallen has been talking plenty of smack about SBW in the meantime though.
He reckons Sonny Bill’s spotlight is going to fade away soon and even called Sonny “dumb” after approaching him for a fight earlier in the year.
“I think the name Sonny Bill Williams might wear out fairly soon,” the 41-year-old said on Aussie sports talk show ‘The Main Event’.
The two also once had a bit of a debate on Aussie TV once, check that out below.
As to calling him dumb, Gallen said that he approached SBW at the NRL grand final in a make-up room.
He supposedly told Sonny that he’s retiring from boxing at the end of the year, so if they’re going to box they gotta lock it in now.
“I said No Limit [a boxing promotion company] had pencilled me in for a fight in December 2022 – which will be my last -- so we needed to get it sorted for at least 10 weeks before then,” he said.
“Sonny says ‘bro, bro, bro’ … he always says bro, he says ‘bro, it only takes six weeks to get ready for a fight’.
“And I said ‘bro, I’m retiring … do you understand?’. From that day on I never heard another word.”
Gallen reckons SBW will call him out after his fight with Hunt.
“Sonny will come out after this fight and say ‘Ok, Gal let’s go’,” he said.
“That’s how dumb he is… unlike Sonny I can talk. I can think. I don’t just say ‘bro’.”
Shuuuut up Paul.
