'Bully' Barry Hall flips script on Sonny Bill Williams ahead of March 23 bout
Barry Hall has flipped the script on Sonny Bill Williams and his "bully" claims while landing a slick jab on his "trash talking" abilities.
The AFL champion had a busy Thursday, training with UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski in Windang before throwing more punches and fronting the media in a Sydney gym.
A lean and mean Hall was asked to respond to SBW's \ - and didn't miss.
TURF WAR: Sonny Bill Williams vs Barry Hall, live and Exclusive on Stan Event, March 23. Purchase the event now at stan.com.au/event
"That's fine, I also heard he said he's not a trash talker and after those comments I agree with him," Hall said.
"He's a respectful guy and all those sorts of things but I'm there to get him out of there.
"He says I'm just doing it for publicity and to get back in the limelight – I absolutely am, I'm going to use him for it. So thank you very much."
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Barry Hall ahead of the fight with Sonny Bill Williams. Photo: Flavio Brancaleone Sydney Morning Herald
The 45-year-old Hall is nine years Williams' senior and has just one professional fight to his name compared with SBW's eight.
But he is confident he has put in the work to go the full eight rounds if necessary and is adamant he is the superior boxer.
"He's got a good jab, absolutely," Hall said.
Barry Hall and Alexander Volkanovski train near Wollongong. Nine
"He's very fluent, the punch you use that doesn't take as much energy over a long period of time, long rounds, is the jab. But I've got an OK jab as well.
"We'll see on the night if his best asset is as good as mine... it's a totally different turnaround from my first fight (a draw against Paul Gallen) where I was just looking to survive the rounds, now we're actually pushing the pace and controlling, which is important going in... I think I'm a much better fighter..
"Sparring-wise, the way things have gone, the feedback I've been getting, I'm a much better fighter than I was."
With just one fight on his CV, the Williams camp don't have a lot of Hall footage to analyse when devising their fight plan.
"It's an asset because I've worked on a few things and developed my game but he's got a world class trainer (Andy Lee) in his corner and I'm sure after one or two rounds they'll find some holes and work some stuff out.
"That's what trainers do and vice-versa, I've got world class trainers myself. That's what the game is, they're there to tell us what to do and they're going to have to wait a round or two to work it out."
Barry Hall poses during a Turf War media opportunity. Getty
Hall wasn't looking beyond next Wednesday in terms of plotting his boxing future.
"It's all results-based for me. If you drop this fight, where does it leave you?
"You haven't got much currency. So I know it's very much results-based. We think there's some fights after this but this is a really taxing sport for not only me but my family. That's a conversation we'll have but I'm not going to look past Wednesday night."
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