Sonny Bill Williams’ demolition of Barry Hall has only strengthened his trainer’s belief that he will fight for a world boxing championship title within two years.
Irish coach Andy Lee, a former world champion himself, made the bold prediction before Williams took just two minutes to dispatch the AFL great with a flurry of power punches.
Williams called out Paul Gallen after Wednesday’s fight in Sydney and Lee said he’d like his star pupil to box again by July at the latest.
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Lee, who also trains world champion Tyson Fury and Kiwi ace Joseph Parker, said Williams would likely return to Ireland to continue his crash course boxing education.
“There’s a big market for Sonny, there’s huge opportunities for him in boxing because of who he is and his profile,” Lee said.
“Boxing seems to be on the turn now, there’s all these guys getting into it. Like you saw The Mountain (Hafthor Bjornsson from Game of Thrones) and the strongman (Eddie Hall) fight the other day, Gerwyn Price the darts player is going to have a boxing match, Patrice Evra in football.
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“So there’s all these guys getting into boxing. But Sonny can actually compete with real boxers. So if we mix both of those things, fight guys who have a profile but also fighting real fighters too.
“Like I said, my ambition for Sonny is to fight for the champion of the world. You can mark the date and the time that I said it because it will happen, two years.”
Lee said Williams was nervous before fighting Hall despite his comparative youth and edge in size and boxing experience.
“There was a lot of unknowns for Sonny. Obviously he hasn’t fought in a long time and Barry Hall, despite the result, is a respected boxer, very technical and very good.
“So he was quite nervous, Sonny, before the fight… Sonny was just so devastating, just looked like it was completely one sided. That can happen, heavyweight fights, small gloves, it’s a different story.”
Lee said Williams was an intense, obsessive personality to work with, which could be both a blessing and a curse.
‘What made Sonny great as a rugby player is that, not that he doubts himself, but he always analyses everything, over-analyses everything and questions everything himself.
“I’m not sure if I can get rid of that part but this will give him huge confidence. Because he felt huge pressure coming into tonight, I think he knew he was in with a real fighter.
“That will strengthen his resolve going forward, build that character, when he is in with real good fighters he’ll be able to draw on his experience.”
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