Surely not.
Either Sonny Bill Williams is taking the piss or he could do with checking his calendar.
The All Blacks star famously moonlights as a professional boxer and has amassed a perfect professional record of 7-0 since his ring debut in 2009.
While he is a solid fighter, it would be almost impossible for him to juggle the training that it requires to be an elite rugby player with the work needed to become a world champion.
On Thursday morning, Williams was asked by Irish boxer Michael Conlan when he’d be making his next walk to the ring and surprised all of his followers with his response.
On the undercard of your boy's @TheNotoriousMMA ☝🏽hope your well my Irish brother https://t.co/q318A9rwIC
— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) July 20, 2017
Williams suggested that he’d been awarded a spot on the undercard of next month’s lucrative super-fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.
And his fans simply couldn’t believe it.
You serious @SonnyBWilliams that’s huge 😮
— David McKenzie (@DavidXMcKenzie) July 20, 2017
Yes big man
— KroenkeOut (@ymahfooz) July 20, 2017
Really?!!!
— Eirig Thomas-Snell (@Eirig) July 20, 2017
And they’d be right to be slightly reluctant to believe the centre about his next trip through the ropes because the date of McGregor vs. Mayweather just so happens to coincide with New Zealand’s second Bledisloe Cup Test against fierce rivals Australia in Dunedin.
It was recently revealed that Williams would indeed be available for the game as he will have already served his four-game suspension for his shoulder charge on Lions winger Anthony Watson in the Second Test of the recent drawn series.
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) July 1, 2017
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen revealed that upcoming preseason games will count towards Williams’ suspension and that, if he’s not available for the opening Test on August 19, he will almost certainly be back for the August 26 clash.
“There’s one game that’s a bit contentious about whether they are going to consider it or not,” Hansen told NZ’s Radio Sport.
“If that’s not the case then we’ll get him back just for the Test match.
“If it’s considered then we’ll get him back for the game of three halves that we play every year before the … Bledisloe starts.”
So even if an appearance on the MayMac card would come as the greatest exposure in terms of Williams’ boxing career, we can’t see the All Blacks parting ways with one of their star players… Regardless of what he says.
