{"id":336867,"date":"2023-10-06T20:52:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T20:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336867"},"modified":"2023-10-06T22:01:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T22:01:33","slug":"sbw-stares-down-retirement-with-one-last-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336867","title":{"rendered":"SBW stares down retirement with one last punch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams<\/a> wants to get back in the ring one more time.<\/p>\n

The shock loss to heavyweight legend Mark Hunt has the two-time Rugby World Cup-winning<\/a> ex-All Black<\/a> thirstier than ever to end his boxing career on a high.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to Wide World of Sports, the cross-code legend revealed the pain of that loss has been eating away at him.<\/p>\n

Battle on the Reef<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Pay-Per-View will be live & exclusive on Stan this Saturday from 6:30pm AEDT.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

However, there won't be a rematch against Hunt, who confirmed his most recent fight was his last.<\/p>\n

\"Sonny<\/p>\n

"One of the hardest things I've done after that fight was watch it back," said Williams.<\/p>\n

"When you're a high-performing athlete for so long, I feel like you have to be real critical. You become real critical of yourself and everything has to be perfect.<\/p>\n

"I thought that was just such a failure because I got knocked out."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Demons teammate reveals truth behind Oliver saga<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Blame myself': Eddie reveals great World Cup regret<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Warner whacks 'sickening' criticism over retirement call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Williams admits he made two major mistakes.<\/p>\n

Before the fight, Williams and Hunt barely took a verbal swipe at each other.<\/p>\n

There was very little animosity between the pair and Williams believes that his respect for the UFC legend changed his approach mentally to other fights.<\/p>\n

The second mistake was letting his guard down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sonny<\/p>\n

In the fight, Williams looked to initially have the advantage until Hunt caught him napping and landed a handful of key blows that levelled the rugby icon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"When I watched the fight back, I was like I was actually in there mixing it. I probably had the wrong fight plan where it was kind of toe-to-toe with one of the most dangerous heavyweights ever in the fight game," Williams explained.<\/p>\n

"I got a lot of confidence out of sitting there and watching it \u2013 watching my head get punched \u2013 I took a lot of confidence out of it because I felt like I was doing really well in that fight. That's why I got caught. That's why boxing is boxing, everyone's got a plan until you get punched in the face.<\/p>\n

"It was cool to be able to share a ring with a legend like Mark Hunt, but the other learning curve for me was; I can't be friends with guys I'm going to get in a ring with and I think that's probably something I need to harness if I get back in the ring next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1708971931654086696<\/a><\/p>\n

"I want to have some animosity towards them, the guy I'm gonna fight, because at the end of the day we can be good mates, but he's still gonna try to hurt me, like Mark Hunt did.<\/p>\n

"That's what type of guy I am. I'm a guy that has a lot of empathy and you know, I felt like that was part of that build-up. It was just a bit too soft."<\/p>\n

As for an opponent? While Eddie Jones has been the target of some scathing Williams remarks, the Wallabies coach isn't on his radar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the moment, he hasn't got anyone lined up or in mind, but concedes he's probably got one more fight in him before calling time.<\/p>\n

"No talks, to be honest," said Williams.<\/p>\n

\"SBW,<\/p>\n

"Hamdullah and thank God like I don't need to fight for money. But the thing that I miss from the high-performance space and playing in big games is that buzz, bro. That buzz where it's all on the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"After Mark Hunt, it was a real part of growth because I had to sit there and look at myself and think, 'Oh, am I doing this for my own ego? What's the best for me?' I have a roof over my head, I have food, I have four beautiful kids, what am I actually doing this for?\u00a0<\/p>\n

"And then I realised that it's just who I am. And now, I still feel like I have another 12 months where I can be like, 'all right, I want to get back in the ring and test myself' because I still feel like I have something to offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"But if I was just going in there thinking, 'Oh, I'm just gonna take a beating to make some money' then there's no way I'll do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"But in terms of getting back in the ring, it has to be worth my while too as in, you know, I'm a realist too. I'm not going to get back in the ring for no money, I know that's a contradiction to what I just said, but I'm not gonna just go jump in the ring and fight for nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"If it's a good fight, if it's a big fight, yeah I'm keen. I'm keen to get back in there and test myself again, but I've given myself probably 12 more months and that's about it. I can get myself up to get in the ring, go away from the family from the kids for four weeks. Give it a good crack."<\/p>\n

Williams said he is eager to lock in an opponent and begin training for a fight in 2024.<\/p>\n

To order and watch the<\/strong><\/em> Battle on the Reef<\/strong><\/em> Pay-Per-View customers will need an active Stan subscription. Stan subscribers can order the Pay-Per-View for $50. New customers can sign up for a 30-day free trial and then order the Pay-Per-View for $50.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams wants to get back in the ring one more time. The shock loss to heavyweight legend Mark Hunt has the two-time Rugby […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336873,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336867\/revisions\/336873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/336869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}