The time for hype, bravado and press conference stunts was over. On the undercard of the much anticipated Mundine Vs Geale bout, a couple of rugged Kiwi boys slugged in out in a seemingly mismatched heavyweight clash.
Of course, one of those Kiwis just happened to be one of the most recognisable athletes of recent times, at least here in Australia (and less so in New Zealand, they don’t have TV’s over there), former NRL poster boy, Sonny Bill Williams.
With both fighters making their professional debuts, the fight never promised to reach any great heights, but no one cared, every one watching on PPV and live at the arena wanted a glimpse of the SBW-show.
Here’s a Sports Fan’s run down on the ‘fight’ as it played out.
Ring Entry
The two fighters made their way to the ring, with Sonny’s lamb to the slaughter opponent, Garry Gurr, or as he wanted to be known for the fight, so as not to be upstaged in the fancy name stakes by SBW, Garry Gaz Gurr, entering first to Men at Work’s old Kiwi folk hit ‘I Wish I Came From a Land Down Under’ looking relaxed, if a little flabby (obviously from too many hangis).
Next up, the man of the moment, Williams came stalking out of the dressing rooms in a black silk Boxa robe, and would have pulled off his desired menacing demeanour if not for his choice of entry song, which I am sure I have heard on my son’s Wiggles CD’s.
Not exactly striking fear into the heart of GGG at this point, but he did have a mean look on his face, so there’s that. The fact that at least half the crowd were booing him made him look more like the villian, however.
Announcement
Fighting out of the black and blue corner, Gaz was introduced to the crowd to a raucous applause.
Then it was Williams’ turn, and with one last squirt of baby oil, he gave a bit of a wave, copped the ref’s instructions and was ready to rumble.
Round 1
It’s on! Williams left his corner cautiously, with a slightly unorthodox stance, specifically his hand placement, which looked more like he was ready to slap GGG away than punch him. He looked nervous and awkward to start the fight, which was more than you could say for Gaz, who cheekily asked Williams’ corner exactly when he was supposed to lay down and play dead, and passed on his bank details for his cheque deposit.
As the Round wore on, Sonny found range with his jab, stinging GGG on a couple of occasions. To his credit, Gurr did his level best to chase Sonny into the corners in order to give him less room to evade GGG’s ‘bomb’s (which were more like water bombs than actual bombs, but hey, what did we expect?). Sonny showed some skills to work his way out of trouble and, with 25sec left in Round 1, threw two crisp uppercuts which hit Gaz’s chin like a sledgehammer.
Gurr was shaken up, barely holding on to the bell.
The most exciting thing so far, apart from those uppercuts, has surely been my wife’s commentary. ‘My uppercut is better’, ‘That’s guy is fat’, ‘I could take that punch’, ‘I punch harder than him.’
All great, factual information.
Negotiations have begun for my other half to be SBW’s second professional opponent, such is her confidence in her boxing ability. I’m all for this, as long as I get Sonny’s autograph before she knocks him senseless!
Round 2
Looking more relaxed, Sonny goes straight to work, looking early and often for his uppercut, to the point where he should have been holding a sign that said ‘It’s ok, I’m only throwing uppercuts for now’.
Probably wouldn’t have helped GGG, however, pretty sure he can’t see straight, or decipher words after Round 1.
SBW lands more jabs, fiding much better range, and is moving well. The inevitable occurs shortly thereafter with yet another uppercut finding its mark on GGG’s chin, rendering a small, flightless bird, defenceless in the ring.
Another 4-6 punches, some finding their mark, others more for the theatre of it all, brings the ref in to stop the fight.
And there it is, Sonny Bill’s first Professional boxing victory.
With a few more menacing poses in from of adoring photographers, Williams’ takes the unusual step of picking up his opponent and handing him to a doctor.
Oh wait, that was a giant cardboard cheque, not his giant cardboard opponent.
My mistake.
None the less, $50,000 to a great cause in the ‘KO to Drugs’ campaign. An an appropriate beneficiary, let’s hope they get in GGG’s ear and get him off whatever he was on when he decided to step into the ring.
The circus is over for now. But for how long?
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