{"id":182602,"date":"2025-06-14T02:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T02:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/182602\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T02:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T02:05:13","slug":"the-single-word-from-television-presenter-that-had-sonny-bill-williams-fuming-ahead-of-paul-gallen-bout-you-better-watch-your-mouth-bro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/182602\/","title":{"rendered":"The single word from television presenter that had Sonny Bill Williams FUMING ahead of Paul Gallen bout: ‘You better watch your mouth bro’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams<\/a>‘ calm media persona cracked live on New Zealand TV when a single word lit the fuse.<\/p>\n

The former dual-code international was appearing on Herald NOW to promote his long-awaited boxing bout with Paul Gallen when host Ryan Bridge asked if he had been ‘greedy’ in past negotiations.<\/p>\n

‘You better watch your mouth bro,’ Williams snapped in response.<\/p>\n

‘Or I’ll come over there soon and see who’s greedy, right brother?’<\/p>\n

Bridge replied coolly, ‘This is my studio, you can’t talk to me like that.’<\/p>\n

Williams shot back, ‘Just because you’ve got nice hair this morning, doesn’t mean I won’t get off this chair.’<\/p>\n

\"Sonny <\/p>\n

Sonny Bill Williams took exception to a television presenter suggesting he was ‘greedy’ ahead of his fight against Paul Gallen<\/p>\n

Bridge tried to defuse the tension: ‘Not just nice hair, but a nice face.’<\/p>\n

Despite the awkward exchange, the interview continued and ended with a traditional face-off.<\/p>\n

The fiery clash overshadowed the reason for Williams’ visit – a July 16 heavyweight showdown against Gallen at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.<\/p>\n

The fight will be the culmination of nearly a decade of public spats, stalled negotiations, and verbal jabs.<\/p>\n

Both fighters are set to receive $1 million each in a 50\/50 split, a reflection of the bout’s trans-Tasman appeal.<\/p>\n

But beneath the promotional hype lies a personal grudge that Williams insists is no act.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media after the broadcast, Williams confirmed the animosity with Gallen is deeply personal.<\/p>\n

‘The way he conducts himself and carries himself, and how he speaks about me\u2026 I look at it like I’m representing my Polynesian brothers,’ he said.<\/p>\n

\"Williams <\/p>\n

Williams later explained how he felt Gallen\u2019s comments insulted Polynesian athletes and their quiet strength<\/p>\n

\"Sonny <\/p>\n

Sonny Bill prepares for what could be his final professional fight against long-time rival Paul Gallen<\/p>\n

Williams took particular offence at past insults from Gallen, including being called ‘dumb’ and ‘a dummy.’<\/p>\n

‘I’ve been in the sheds with guys like him who suck up all the oxygen,’ Williams said.<\/p>\n

‘As Polynesians, we’re taught to be quiet and respectful, not speak unless spoken to. Because we don’t say anything, people assume we’re dumb.’<\/p>\n

‘But we do have opinions, and we do have brains. We just let them talk.’<\/p>\n

‘I really think he thinks he’s better than me. Better than us.’<\/p>\n

Williams is training at Opetaia Boxing on the Gold Coast and appears motivated to finish his career on a high.<\/p>\n

‘This is probably the last fight,’ he admitted.<\/p>\n

‘It’s been three years since I retired. I’ve got three kids. I got knocked out in my last fight – it was scary.’<\/p>\n

\"Paul <\/p>\n

Paul Gallen has finally agreed to the Sonny Bill fight, albeit on his terms, to give the fans what they want<\/p>\n

\"Gallen's <\/p>\n

Gallen’s has beaten a long line of challengers including former AFL hard man Barry Hall (pictured)<\/p>\n

‘My two older girls came home from school the next day crying. That’s what I don’t like about the sport.’<\/p>\n

‘But the opportunity came. I don’t like the bloke and he doesn’t like me. The animosity is real.’<\/p>\n

New Zealand heavyweight Joseph Parker, who joined Williams at the press conference, backed his countryman.<\/p>\n

‘Sonny’s in the right camp, doing the right things,’ Parker said.<\/p>\n

‘Gallen’s a brawler, throws big shots, but Sonny’s training seriously. He can dominate if he executes.’<\/p>\n

Williams has also rejected suggestions that the eight two-minute round format was chosen due to fitness concerns.<\/p>\n

He believes Gallen’s comments are another example of disrespect.<\/p>\n

‘The way that he conducts himself and he carries himself, and how he speaks about me, Williams said.<\/p>\n

‘I look at it like, for me, I’m representing my Polynesian brothers. For example, calling me a dummy… I see it playing alongside these type of individuals and being in the sheds with these type of individuals, where they suck up all the oxygen.<\/p>\n

‘As Polynesians, we’re taught to be quiet and be respectful, and don’t speak unless you’re spoken to, and because we don’t say anything, all of a sudden, it means that we’re dumb.<\/p>\n

‘Doesn’t mean that we don’t have opinions, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have brains, but we just let them speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I think him looking at that, speaking like that, really observing the way that he’s conducted himself, I really think that he thinks he’s better than us.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonny Bill Williams‘ calm media persona cracked live on New Zealand TV when a single word lit the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,92,704,52364,93,79,1862,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-182602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-sonny-bill-williams","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sydney","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114679272354171650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}