Sonny Bill Williams scored a dominant first-round knockout win over Barry Hall, dropping the former AFL premiership-winner three times before the fight was stopped.
Williams, 36, wearing the black and white of New Zealand, looked a lot bigger and stronger than Hall, 45, in what turned out to be a massive mismatch, with Williams using his 11kg weight advantage to good use.
Williams was dominant right from the get-go and landed a left hook inside the first minute that floored Hall.
AS IT HAPPENED: SBW obliterates Hall in first-round domination
There was some confusion with the referee appearing to wave the fight off, but Hall got back to his feet.
When the referee came over to check if Hall was OK, the AFL great didn’t really respond but proceeded forward anyway.
Not long after, Williams had Hall down again with a right hand, which left the former Sydney Swan on all fours.
Moments later, the two-time NRL premiership-winner landed a right hand that ended the fight.
“Unbelievable, Sonny Bill Williams. He has smoked him early. I’m in shock!” said Australian boxing icon Danny Green on Stan.
“Sonny Bill just dropped it on him and imposed his will, he pressed it and wanted to get him out of there. Barry got caught cold. Full credit to Williams. He didn’t miss when he was doing the finishing. He did it with precision.”
Lightweight world champion George Kambosos was equally impressed.
“The sharpness. The fakes from Sonny was incredible. It showed that he sourced the best from Tyson Fury overseas. When you catch someone early like that and put the pressure on, it’s very hard to recover,” Kambosos said.
Williams called out Paul Gallen following the fight and the pair spoke after Williams left the ring.
Both were seen chatting without any venom and shared a smile.
The scene has set up a possible showdown between Gallen and Williams, more than 10 years after Gallen first challenged the former All Black.
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