Sonny Bill Williams: record, next fight and profile →
Sonny Bill Williams says a fight with Cronulla Sharks and NSW hardman Paul Gallen is on the cards after the cross-code star beat American battler Chauncy Welliver in Sydney last week. Williams took his pro record to 7-0 after a comfortable victory over Welliver, in a fight that lacked fireworks but was at least without controversy after the Kiwi's last win against South Africa's Frans Botha was clouded in doubt.
Cape Town - American heavyweight boxer Chauncy Welliver has heaped praise on All Black rugby star Sonny Bill Williams who outclassed him in the ring in Sydney this past Saturday. The New Zealander dominated an out of shape Welliver for most of the fight. He now boasts a 7-0 career win/loss record in the boxing ring. Welliver, who has sparred with the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Mike Tyson and David Tua in a 14-year professional career, was no match for Williams in the All Black's return to the ring for the first time since surviving a 10 round bout with South Africa's Francois Botha in Brisbane two years ago.
Sonny Bill Williams secures his seventh professional boxing win with victory against American boxer Chauncy Welliver in Sydney. Anthony Mundine has cast doubt on a fight between Sonny Bill Williams and Paul Gallen at the end of next season by suggesting the NSW Origin captain would not be ready for such a match-up for two years. After Williams and Gallen won their respective bouts at Saturday night's Footy Show Fight Night, all the talk at Allphones Arena was of the pair getting in the ring against each other to headline the event next year. Channel Nine boss David Gyngell has publicly backed the bout.
Adding punch to the Chiefs and All Blacks backline is now Sonny Bill Williams' priority after a bid to rebuild his reputation as a professional boxer ended with a successful outcome in Sydney on Saturday night. Williams recorded a clinical unanimous points decision over 137kg American Chauncy Welliver in a frustrating main event at the Footy Show Fight Night - and now he is eyeing another "heavyweight" rematch with former NRL adversary Israel Folau. The code-switching footballers could share the same field for the first time since the Bulldogs regular season clash with the Melbourne Storm in 2007 when the Waratahs host the Chiefs in their final Super Rugby pre-season trial in Sydney on Friday night.
Sonny Bill Williams versus Anthony Mundine. It is a fight many sports fans would love to see but only a select few were on hand as the pair went toe-to-toe for nine rounds in a New Zealand gym. Mundine, the former NRL-star-turned-world-champion-boxer who paved the way for Williams and a growing number of athletes to try their hand at other sports, was in Hamilton earlier this month to help his close friend prepare for Saturday night's bout with 70-fight veteran Chauncy Welliver at Allphones Arena when the dual-code superstar's sparring partner failed to turn up.
As physical specimens Sonny Bill Williams wins by unanimous decision, but he is still burdened by the weight of expectation leading into his boxing comeback against jovial American journeyman Chauncy Welliver. Williams will attempt to restore credibility to the heavyweight component of his sporting career tomorrow night in Sydney when his seventh professional bout - and first for almost two years - is the focal point of the inaugural Footy Show Fight Night. The cross-code superstar is still smarting from his contentious win over South African Frans Botha in February 2013, and although he has added a second NRL premiership to his achievements since then, that night in Brisbane continues to undermine his pretensions as a boxer.
Sonny Bill Williams is a better athlete than Michael Jordan, according to the man he next faces in the boxing ring. And that scares experienced American Chauncy Welliver. "This guy is an all-round athlete - he can run, he can jump, he can do a little bit of everything," Welliver said on Wednesday's ahead of Saturday's heavyweight main event in Sydney. "You're not going to find a better athlete, not in America, not in Australia. "This guy is a better athlete than Michael Jordan.
Sonny Bill Williams says his athletic ability is his biggest – and perhaps only - asset heading into his next boxing bout against American journeyman Chauncy Welliver. The cross-coding superstar has given a brutally honest assessment of his ring work ahead of his January 31 fight with Welliver in Sydney. The pair will headline the Footy Show Fight Night promotion. It won't be a pretty sight when lumpy heavyweight Welliver enters the ring. But looks aside, the 31-year-old is a seasoned veteran with a 70-fight professional record coming on top of an extensive amateur background. He's also been a regular sparring partner for some of the best fighters of his generation.
Sonny Bill Williams is back training with the Chiefs in Hamilton. Williams says the psychological high of winning a big boxing match is just as important to his rugby as the obvious physical benefits leading into the Rugby World Cup. And that is precisely the reason he believes it is vital he go through with his scheduled January 31 bout against American Chauncy Welliver in Sydney, even though it comes just before the Chiefs' final pre-season outing against the Waratahs in the same city.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Nyika has been helping Sonny Bill Williams prepare for his return to the boxing ring and describes the code-swapping star as "class". Nyika, who won the light-heavyweight division in Glasgow last year to give New Zealand a rare Games boxing success, sparred with the All Blacks midfielder this week. He posted a video of a three-minute round of the action in the ring with Williams on his Facebook page.