Steve Deane: Sonny Bill happy to give Liava'a benefit of the doubt

Sonny Bill Williams says he's

It wouldn't be professional boxing without an aspiring fighter having to defend his journeyman opponent's credibility - but adding sickness beneficiary to a list of epithets that already includes "tubby 43-year-old gospel singer" is taking the concept to new limits.

It is, however, all relative. Even with a dicky elbow and worn out vocal cords, one gets the feeling Alipate Liava'a could see off Gary Gurr and Ryan Hogan - Sonny Bill Williams' first two victims - without too much trouble. At the same time.

Liava'a may have an issue or two with Winz after drawing attention to the fact he has fought 11 professional bouts over the last couple of years while claiming to be incapable of work, but he has at least been in the ring. Gurr and Hogan's combined boxing careers amounted to 3min and 57s of action - much of it spent praying and eating canvas.

"A lot of people had a crack at me [about Liava'a], but I know where I am in the sport," Williams said. "I'm no David Tua and I'm no Anthony Mundine. I've only had three fights and I have no amateur record. [Liava'a] has had 11 fights. He's had more experience than me and he's been doing it for a while, so it is definitely a tough fight."

We'll see. Williams showed enough skill and mobility in his last fight - a six-round unanimous points victory over Scott Lewis in January - to suggest he will have little trouble evading the ponderous-looking Liava'a's worst intentions.

If anything, the stakes for Williams have gone up following the revelations about his opponent's status as a benefit claimant.

Tomorrow's bout at Trusts Stadium is all about adding another layer of mystique to the multi-disciplined global cash generation scheme that is Williams Inc. Getting knocked out by a fat man with only one good arm isn't on the company mission statement, even if a good chunk of cash is going to charity.

"In the heavyweight division, if anyone lands a punch on your chin you are going to drop," Williams said.

He wasn't talking about his
marketability, but he might as well have been.

There is also the small matter of avoiding humiliation in front of his Crusaders teammates.

"A few of the boys are coming up to the fight. They just said I better not get knocked out or they'll have some dirt on me for the rest of the year. Nah, I'll be all right."

For boxing fans, the real highlight tomorrow will come after Williams has done his bit for Christchurch, when two-time world champion Anthony Mundine steps into the ring.

Mundine's opponent, Xavier Toliver, has been rubbished in sections of the Australia media as a low-rent whipping boy. Not quite as low-rent as Liava'a, but cheap and not very nasty all the same. Certainly there is little in the American journeyman's 23-6 record to suggest he is anything other than a hand-picked opponent for Mundine to tune up on as he makes the drop to junior middleweight.


It says something about the cult of SBW that his fight is being promoted as the main event by Sky in its drive to sell pay-per-views while the Mundine bout is merely "also featuring". As Williams himself said, he ain't "no Anthony Mundine". Not yet, anyway.

steve.deane@nzherald.co.nz