In a heavyweight contest, Sonny Bill Williams demolished Barry Hall in the first round, with a big right hand closing the show at the Aware Super Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
Williams, the former All Black and NRL star, was very aggressive from the start and Hall backing up almost immediately. Hall was dropped inside the first minute of the fight.
He was dropped for the second time a moment later, with the fight being allowed to continue. A big left, that was followed by an accurate right, was enough for the referee to step in and wave off the fight.
Several fighters were impressed by Williams' performance.
"The sharpness, the fakes from Sonny were incredible," said Kambosos. "When you catch someone early like that and put the pressure on, it's very hard to recover."
Williams improved his record to nine wins, with four by knockout, and no losses.
The next fight could come against former NRL enforcer Paul Gallen.
"Much respect to Barry for coming here and doing this," said Williams. "There's talk of [Paul] Gallen, so maybe Gallen [is next]."
Gallen called out Williams more than 10 years ago. Williams, 36-years-old, had paused his boxing career back in 2015 and didn't fight again until 2021.
Rahim Mundine, the son of former world champion Anthony Mundine, made his pro debut on the card and won a four round decision over Lepani Levatia.
Also on the card, Paul Fleming won a ten round unanimous decision over Jackson England in a battle for four regional super featherweight titles. The action was close and so were the scores, with tallies of 95-94, 95-94 and 97-92. Fleming is now set to fight again on April 20, as part of the Michael Zerafa vs. Isaac Hardman undercard in Melbourne.
