Sonny Bill Williams: Professional boxer ahead of his bout with Paul Gallen

It all goes down in Sydney tonight.  

Sonny Bill Williams steps back into the ring for his long awaited bout against fellow footy star turned boxer Paul Gallen. 

There’s no lost love between the pair, who have been wanting to fight for nearly a decade. 

Williams told Heather du Plessis-Allan that hate is a strong word to describe their dynamic, but the animosity between them is definitely real. 

He says that he’s not generally a trash talker, but if someone’s going to keep pushing, eventually you’re going to push back. 

“I don’t consider it trash talk, I kind of just spoke some truth, and I think with this bloke, every fight he’s had, he’s made it personal,” he told du Plessis-Allan. 

“But the reality is, all I’ve done is spoken some truths back and I think it’s riled him up quite a bit.” 

Williams says the bout can’t come quick enough. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So it all goes down in Sydney. Tonight, Sonny Bill
Williams steps back into the ring against fallow footy star
turned boxer Paul Gallant. There is no love lost between
the pair. They've been wanting to fight each other for
close to ten years, and Sunny Bill Williams is.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
With me now morning, Sonny, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm very well, thank you?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Now?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Is all of this hate actually real?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I don't know about hate. Hates such such a strong word,
but animosity. I'm not liking each other, Yeah, that definitely is.
We're just not We're two totally different people who look
at I guess life in a total different way. I
think for myself, you know, I'm not the trash talk.

(00:37):
That's not my go but you know, if someone's going
to keep pushing, pushing, pushing, eventually you're going to push back,
you know. And for myself, I haven't. I don't consider
it trash talk. I kind of just spoke some truth.
And I think with this bloke, every fight that he's had,
he's made it personal. He's been the victim because the
guy that he's fought has done something that he shouldn't have.

(01:00):
But the reality is all I've done is spoke some
truth back and I think has rolled them up quite
a bit.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
When you say he's a drug cheat, do you really
mean that?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, that's the truth, you know, that's the truth. He
got caught, They got caught taking supplements, things that shouldn't
be in this system, and they took a band. He
took a band, and he was the captain of that
club at that time. So you know, it's not like
I'm telling any lies. He did charge his mate to
come around his house for a barbecue. You know, I

(01:33):
think I can't remember what else I said, but it's
not that I haven't been, you know, talking trash. It's
just telling truth.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, I imagine it's going to feel pretty good to
get in the ring then and sort it out once
and for all, is it?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah? I think so? I think. You know, it's been
a long nine weeks. He's even said it himself. He
just wants to get in and get this fight done,
and that's what I want to do, you know. Yeah,
so night couldn't come quick enough.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Now tell me, look, you're what thirty nine or forty?
You must be feeling your body in this training?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, definitely, definitely. I just want to get home to
my kids now, my wife. I'm thirty nine, I'll be
forty a couple of weeks after the fight, so it's
definitely the last hurrah.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
So is this the last fight you're gonna do, Sonny, Yes,
for sure. What's the difference between what you're feeling in
your body now, what hurts or what doesn't work the
way that you might have wanted it to work properly?
Maybe let's say ten years ago.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I think that you know, the fire, the hunger, the heart,
it's all still there. But you know, age catches up
up with you. You can't outrun age. And it's just
the biggest thing that I've noticed is just the recovery aspect.
So you know, being away from the family has been tough,

(02:47):
but the least I've been able to get some good
sleep without the kids running in the room.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
You know how many kids have you got now?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
I've got five, sister, one of them is quite small.
A yes, they go from ten to one year old
two into it. Yeah, My youngest, Muhammad, he will be
one a day after the fight, so he came four
years after the second youngest. So we head at a
stage there we were five under five, I think, yeah,

(03:15):
four under five.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Excuse me, man, you're a sucker for punishment. Do you
ever end up with the whole bloody lot of them
in bed with you?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Sometimes? Sometimes? And I love it. I'm not gonna lie,
I really love it. I enjoy the aspect of being
a father. But you know, it's been a long couple
of months in my life. Say now, you've got to
get home, now, get it done, Get home now and
come to help me.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Look, I can't imagine you don't strike me as the
kind of person who's going to let the scrudge and
this animosity between yourself and Gallon Linga. Are you going
to make up after this fight?

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah? Well he said he doesn't want to shake my
hands afterwards, So it's no, it's water off a duck
back for myself. You know, I'm not I'm not a
guy that, like you said, hangs on to hate, hangs
on to anger. I'm usually the guy at my own
household that will let things go and try and be
the bigger person and talk to my wife after a

(04:08):
big argument. But at the same time, I'm not fast
either way, So I just want to get the dub.
The next two days with this media press conference way
and it's not probably high on the agenda for me.
I don't couldn't have, couldn't care too, couldn't have two
kids about it. I just want to get in the
ring and get the job done.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
That's where my focus is a sunny Bill, thank you
for your time, good luck with the fight, sunny Bill Williams.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
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