Andy Lee didn’t know a lot about Sonny Bill Williams the rugby and league star.
But Ireland’s former middleweight world champion turned gun trainer has seen enough of SBW the boxer to look you in the eye and state he is capable of scaling the same heights in his new profession.
“People might think I’m crazy but my ambition for Sonny is that after two years, I would like to see him fight for the world title,” Lee tells Wide World of Sports from Williams’ simple but immaculate gym, tucked away on a nondescript south Sydney street.
TURF WAR: Sonny Bill Williams vs Barry Hall, live and exclusive on Stan Event, March 23. Purchase the event now at stan.com.au/event
“By the end of our journey, that’s how good I think he can be.”
Lee is a fascinating story in his own right.
A second cousin of current heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, Lee became the first member of the travelling community to win a major world title when he stunned Matt Korobov in Las Vegas in 2014.
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He lived with legendary trainer Emanuel Steward in Detroit between 2005-12 and signed off from boxing with victory over KeAndrae Leatherwood at the mecca, Madison Square Garden, in 2017.
Lee, 37, is now married with kids and splitting his time between training and punditry.
He guided Kiwi Joseph Parker to victory over Derek Chisora in December and is an assistant trainer to Fury.
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“I wouldn’t waste my time with anybody,” Lee says, when asked why he is working with Williams.
“I’ve been asked to train highly ranked fighters and it’s not that I don’t think they’re good enough. But as I say to Sonny, the most valuable thing you have in this world is time and energy and where you put it and where you spend it.
“I have two young children so do I want to be in the gym with a fighter or do I want to be at home with my kids and putting time into them? The person has to be special for me to train them or I have to see something in them that makes me want to work with them.
“With Sonny, I didn’t know much about him as a rugby player. I obviously knew his name and that he was a great rugby player but he has a certain aura and presence.
“When he came to Joseph’s fight in December, I could see something in him there. He asked if he could come to Ireland and I said ‘yeah, come over and I’ll help you out.’
“I never intended to train him at that stage but the more we trained together the more potential I saw in him.”
Lee viewed Williams, 36, as something of a blank canvas despite his advancing years.
Williams is 8-0 in his professional career but has fought just once in the last seven years – an underwhelming victory over Waikato Falefehi in Townsville last year.
After hanging up the footy boots he knew he had to improve, a lot, to achieve his boxing potential.
“It’s not so much what I saw technically, because he’s naturally coordinated and naturally athletic,” Lee said.
“But he’s obsessive and hungry. For a man who’s achieved so much, he has a lot of hunger and want to be good at what he’s doing. Like he doesn’t need to have this fight, he doesn’t need to be in a situation where he’s now under pressure to perform.
“Fighting is not like other sports. It’s not like rugby, it’s not like tennis, it’s a physical fight and it goes back to primal instincts. If you’re in there getting beaten up by another man, it’s not like in tennis where you go ‘oh, I lost the game,’ shake hands and play again next week. If Sonny loses the fight, he’s going to have to live with it for the rest of his life, people will always say ‘you lost to Barry Hall.’
“So he’s put himself in this position and the fact that he wants to do it shows me a lot about him. I’m excited about what he can do in boxing.”
Of course a trainer’s job is not just to hone his own man’s skills, but to pick out the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent.
That is a tricky task with Hall, the former junior boxing champ who has just one pro fight – a controversial 2019 draw with Paul Gallen – to his name.
There is simply not a lot of tape, not a lot of anything to work with.
“Barry Hall is a good fighter,” Lee says.
“From what I can see of him, it’s not like these celebrity fights where they can’t really box. Sonny can box and this guy, Barry Hall, can box. So for Sonny there’s a lot at stake, it’s not like he’s just fighting a guy who’s got no ambition or no pedigree.
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“It’s a difficult fight for Sonny. But that’s what I like about it, it’s a test.”
Lee’s confidence in Williams was cemented with an impressive final sparring session against the undefeated Jackson Murray on Wednesday.
“Of the two of them Sonny is the fighter,” Lee says, adding that his jab is his best punch.
“His jab is very good. Everything comes from the jab and we always work on the jab. He’s strong, without trying to hit hard, he’s heavy handed.”
Williams body sparred with Fury and Parker in the United Kingdom earlier this year.
Lee also took him out of his comfort zone for no-holds barred sparring sessions against the likes of European champion Tommy McCarthy and the well regarded Nick Campbell.
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“All undefeated, hungry guys, and they’re always coming to take Sonny out because they don’t believe they should be in there with them because they see him as a rugby player,” Lee said.
“And if someone comes into your gym you can’t let them get one over you. So they always raise their game to fight Sonny but he can more than hold his own.”
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