Boxing pros eye title fight with SBW

BOXING

Aaron Lawton If Sonny Bill Williams wants to keep his New Zealand heavyweight title he will have to defend it against either Shane Cameron or Monte Barrett by May next year.

Last week, the All Black superstar crushed American opponent Clarence Tillman to claim the vacant New Zealand Professional Boxing Association belt in just his fifth professional bout.

Under the association’s rules, Williams must now defend his title against a fighter ranked in the NZPBA’S top 10 within six months and, if successful, he will then be required to step into the ring against the No 1 contender.

He will have 12 months from this May to take that fight and it was yesterday confirmed that the No 1 contender would be the winner of the heavily-anticipated clash between Cameron and Barrett, which is scheduled to take place in Auckland on May 30.

American Barrett, 40, was the man who halted David Tua’s career when they met in Auckland last year.

‘‘The winner of this fight will be the No 1 contender for the New Zealand heavyweight title,’’ NZPBA boss Lance Revill confirmed yesterday.

‘‘That means Sonny Bill will have to defend his title against either Shane Cameron or Monte Barrett.

‘‘The pressure will be put on him to fight and if he doesn’t after two or three defences he will be stripped of his title.’’

Former league international Dean Lonergan, who is copromoting the Cameron-barrett fight night with David Higgins, of Duco Events, said the decision would force Williams to show his boxing mettle.

‘‘If Sonny Bill wants to keep his title, he will have to fight whoever wins out of Cameron and Barrett and that means we are going to find out whether Sonny Bill can fight or not.

‘‘I think Sonny Bill would probably want to fight these guys but his manager, Khoder Nasser, will run a mile because he knows he’ll be beaten.’’

In order to be eligible to win the New Zealand heavyweight title, Barrett will need to have New Zealand citizenship, something he said he was in the process of applying for.

‘‘When I first arrived in New Zealand, I thought it was one of the best places I’d ever been to,’’ Barrett said.

‘‘I definitely wouldn’t mind living there for a while so I told that to David Higgins and he said he would try and work something out for me. They are sending me the forms and I should be getting all the information in a day or two.’’

As for Williams, while Barrett lives and trains in the United States, he said he already knew a bit about the reigning New Zealand heavyweight champion.

‘‘I know he’s an icon over there in New Zealand,’’ Barrett said. ‘‘But he’s only had five fights and while I’m sure he plays rugby real good, after he’s stepped in the ring with me, he will never want to see a boxing glove again.’’

Cameron’s manager, Ken Reinsfield, said he expected Williams would vacate his belt rather than risk stepping into the ring with Cameron or Barrett – both seasoned professionals in the world of boxing.

‘‘You can’t make people fight so Sonny Bill doesn’t have to defend the title. He can vacate the belt and walk away from it,’’ Reinsfield said.

‘‘That’s probably the most likely option. The fact is this – in the school of boxing Sonny Bill is still in kindergarten and Shane’s doing his masters degree at university.’’