Sonny Bill Williams has come out swinging at his long-time rival Paul Gallen after a boxing showdown between the pair was finally confirmed.
The two former football stars turned boxers will clash at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday, July 16, in a bout to feature as a pay-per-view event on streaming platform Stan.
A press conference on Tuesday confirmed the clash, although Paul Gallen sprung a surprise when he failed to turn up, taking to social media to reveal, tongue-in-cheek, that he wanted to let his opponent have the limelight.
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“Everything is about Sonny, Sonny gets what Sonny wants so I didn't want to steal his thunder today,” he said in a video posted to Instagram.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that the fight will be fought over two-minute rounds, which had been a sticking point in negotiations, with Gallen pushing for the standard three minutes.
With no Gallen there for the usual pre-fight war of words, SBW took up the running on his own, pointing to the former Cronulla and New South Wales captain’s history, as well as suggesting the 43-year-old may be wary of any doping tests ahead of the fight.
Gallen was one of several Sharks players sanctioned over the club’s 2011 supplements program, while a potential 2022 bout with the pair failed to materialise - Williams says he wasn’t to blame.
“I honestly think he thought the drug testers were going to be here today and ask him about the vitamins that he’s been on,” Williams said.
“What happened three years ago, when we had the deal done… and then at the last hurdle, he reneged.
“My question is, what have you been doing in the last three years, Paul? What’s been in your system, what’s been out of your system?
“Why have so many people come to me and said, ‘Bro, you’ve got to get on some stuff for this fight’?
“That’s never happened to me before in my whole career and I’ll never ever go down that path. Three years ago, that door was open, I went to him, man to man, he shut it down.”
While Williams has typically been reserved and respectful with his previous opponents over a 9-1 professional boxing career, there’s clear animosity when it comes to Gallen.
“The last 10 years, he’s always attacked my character,” he said.
“For someone that’s been involved in probably one of the biggest sporting drug scandals in NRL to date, for someone that charges his own players $10 a head to come to a barbeque at his house. This type of character, having a go at mine, I see that as a compliment.
“It’s just a guy that I don’t like, he talks so much rubbish, he’s a narcissistic prick.
“The way that he is, the way that he carries himself, he brings it out of me.
“Yes, I’m a nice guy, I’m an empathetic type of man, I’m a family guy but at the end of the day, I’ve got fire in me as well.
“I’m an athlete and I was a physical athlete on the field and if I get pushed too much I’ll push back, and that’s what this fight’s gonna come down to.”
While both guys may be past their athletic peaks, there remains plenty of bad blood between the pair ahead of this clash.