Andy Lee did not know much about Sonny Bill Williams’ rugby and league star.
But the former Irish middleweight world champion has seen enough gun trainers from SBW the boxer to look you in the eye and say he is capable of scaling the same heights in his new profession.
“People think I’m crazy, but my ambition for Sonny is that after two years I would like him to fight for the world title,” says Lee Wide World of Sports of Williams’ simple but immaculate gym, thrown on a indescribable South Sydney Street.
TURF WAR: Sonny Bill Williams vs. Barry Hall, live and exclusive at Stan Event, March 23. Buy the event now at stan.com.au/event
“At the end of our journey, that’s how good I think he can be.”
Lee is a fascinating story in its own right.
A second cousin of current heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, Lee became the first member of the travel community to win a major world title when he surprised Matt Korobov in Las Vegas in 2014.
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He lived with legendary coach Emanuel Steward in Detroit between 2005-12 and signed from Boxing with the victory over KeAndrae Leatherwood in Mecca, Madison Square Garden, in 2017.
Lee, 37, is now married with children and has split his time between training and punditry.
He guided Kiwi Joseph Parker to victory over Derek Chisora in December and is an assistant coach for Fury.
“I would not waste my time with anyone,” Lee says when asked why he works with Williams.
“I was asked to train high-class fighters and it’s not that I do not think they’re good enough. But as I tell Sonny, the most valuable thing you have in this world is time and energy and where you put it. where you spend it.
“I have two young children so I want to be in the gym with a fighter or do I want to be at home with my kids and put time into them? That person has to be special to train me or I have to see something in them that I want to be with to work for them.
“With Sonny, I did not know much about him as a rugby player. I obviously knew his name and that he was a great rugby player, but he has a certain aura and presence.
“When he came to Joseph’s fight in December, I could see something in him. He asked if he could come to Ireland and I said, ‘Yes, come along and I will help you.’
“I never thought to train him at that stage, but the more we trained together, the more potential I saw in him.”
Lee saw Williams, 36, as something of an empty canvas despite his advanced years.
Williams is 8-0 in his professional career but has only struggled once in the last seven years – an overwhelming victory over Waikato Falefehi in Townsville last year.
After hanging up his boots, he knew he needed to improve, a lot, in order to reach his boxing potential.
“It’s not so much what I’ve seen technically, because he’s naturally coordinated and naturally athletic,” Lee said.
“But he is obsessive and hungry. For a man who has achieved so much, he is very hungry and wants to be good at what he does. As he does not need to have this struggle, he does not need to be in a situation where he now under pressure to perform.
“Fighting is not like other sports. It is not like rugby, it is not like tennis, it is a physical fight and it goes back to primary instincts. When you are beaten inside by another man, it is not like in tennis where are you. go ‘oh, I’m lost the game, shake hands and play again next week. “You lost Barry Hall.”
SBW, Hall size everyone else up
“So he put himself in that position and the fact that he wants to do it shows me a lot about him. I’m excited about what he can do in boxing.”
Of course, the job of a coach is not only to sharpen his own man’s skills, but also to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent.
That’s a complicated task with Hall, the former junior boxing champion who has only one pro fight – a controversial 2019 draw with Paul Gallen – to his name.
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There is simply not much band, not much something to work with.
“Barry Hall is a good fighter,” Lee says.
“From what I see of him, it’s not like these celebrity fights where they can not really box. Sonny can box and this guy, Barry Hall, can box. So for Sonny there’s a lot at stake, it’s not like he just is against a guy who has no ambition or no pedigree.
“It’s a tough fight for Sonny. But that’s what I like, it’s a test.”
Lee’s confidence in Williams was confirmed on Wednesday with an impressive final sparring session against the unbeaten Jackson Murray.
“Of those two, Sonny is the fighter,” Lee says, adding that his blow is his best punch.
“His jab is very good. Everything comes from Jab and we always work on Jab. He is strong, without trying to hit hard, he is hard handed.”
Williams’ body was spared earlier this year with Fury and Parker in the UK.
Lee also took him out of his comfort zone for unsustainable sparring sessions against European champion Tommy McCarthy and the well-regarded Nick Campbell.
“All unscathed, hungry guys, and they always come to take Sonny out because they do not believe they should be there with them because they see him as a rugby player,” said Lee.
“And when someone comes into your gym, you can not let them over you. So they always increase their game to fight Sonny, but he can keep more than his own.”
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