The Man Who Laughed at Sonny Bill

Last time he was in the ring, Sonny Bill Williams hit his opponent roughly 100 times a round, for eight straight rounds. The guy was big and fat and hardly threw a punch, but he didn’t flinch. He just kept taunting Sonny Bill: ‘Come on… that all you got? Hit me. Hit me harder.’ Who was this guy?

It may be the best punch Sonny Bill Williams ever throws.

Midway through the fifth round, Chauncy Welliver is burrowing him back, trying to shove him into a corner, and SBW stops, sets, bends his knees and uncoils a right-hand that rolls right up from the ground.

Chauncy’s boring in and this punch, seemingly as hard as any man can hit, slides under his cross-arm defence and crunches into his right cheek. His head snaps back, wobbles, and SBW waits for him to fall.

Only he grins, sticks his jaw out, taps his forehead twice with his glove and yells, “Come on! Hit me harder!”

They play that punch over and over at the end of the fifth and each time, 5000 fans at Sydney’s Allphones Arena gasp. SBW, in his corner, watches the replays over the head of his trainer, Anthony Mundine. He’s not an expressive…