Ex-All Black Sonny Bill Williams' intellect attacked by former League player
Former All Black great Sonny Bill Williams has had his intelligence belittled in a verbal tirade by former rugby league player Paul Gallen.
The 58-test All Black, who had a multi-sport career across rugby union, rugby league, sevens and is still active in boxing, has come under fire from former NRL player Gallen for not accepting a fight that would have netted them both $4 million.
The former NSW Blues captain went on to attack Williams’ personally, calling the athlete ‘too dumb’ to accept the deal that was tabled by UK boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
Gallen, who has a media career in rugby league and has tried a hand at boxing, detailed his one-on-one conversation with Williams at the NRL Grand Final as he tried to convince Williams to accept the fight before he retired from boxing.
“I said ‘Sonny, if we’re going to fight we have to organise it soon because I’m retiring next year,” Gallen recalled.
“And he says ‘what do you mean?’
“I said, ‘mate, I’m turning 41 next year, I’m definitely retiring’.
“I then explained to Sonny while I was contracted with No Limit, I was allowed to fight him so long as it wasn’t within 10 weeks of a No Limit event.
“I then said No Limit had pencilled me in for a fight in December, 2022 – which will be my last — so we needed to get it sorted for at least 10 weeks before then.”
“To which Williams said what?
“Sonny says ‘bro, bro, bro’ … he always says bro,” Gallen laughs. “He says ‘bro, it only takes six weeks to get ready for a fight’.
“And I said ‘bro, I’m retiring … do you understand?’
“From that day on I never heard another word.”
Gallen tried to contact Williams’ agent Khoder Nasser in a second attempt to line up the bout which he said turned into a farcical conversation, “it was the most arrogant, ridiculous conversation I’ve ever had in my life.”
Williams has lined up his next fight with former UFC fighter Mark Hunt, who Gallen fought and beat in 2020 in the fighter’s third boxing bout.
The former Cronulla Sharks prop predicted that Williams would try to call him out after the fight with Hunt before launching an attack on Williams’ smarts.
“Sonny will come out after this fight and say ‘Ok, Gal let’s go’,” he said.
“That’s how dumb he is.
“After I told him a year ago I can’t fight in the 10 weeks before December.
“And like I said, then I am retiring.
“Because unlike Sonny I can talk. I can think.
“I don’t just say ‘bro’.”
Gallen has had 15 professional bouts since turning to boxing after his rugby league career, sporting 12 wins, two losses and one draw with seven knockout wins.
Williams has a 9-0 record in his boxing career, winning his latest fight in March 2022 over former AFL player Barry Hall and will fight Mark Hunt in November.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments