Clarence Tillman III takes on Sonny Bill Williams on February 8 at Claudelands Arena – Boxing news
Clarence Tillman III will take on the emerging Sonny Bill Williams in the 6000-seater Claudelands Arena in Hamilton, New Zealand on February 8, 2012.
The two men, both of the heavyweight category, will fight for the vacant New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA) heavyweight title as they are considered New Zealand’s best heavyweight pugilists.
Williams was initially bound to fight Richard Tutaki for the same gold, but due to the criminal charges Richard faced recently, the fight was cancelled. The organisation’s search halted on Clarence, who hails from New Orleans but since 2010 has been residing
in Auckland and now fights for the Kiwis.
Clarence and Sonny both are prolific boxers, but Clarence has a bit of an upper hand over Williams. He punched off his boxing career in 2008, losing his first fight in front of 12,000 plus fans, but he kept reappearing in mainstream boxing.
Clarence right stands at the initial level with 300th ranking worldwide. Tillman has thrown himself into 21 bouts and has emerged victorious in just 11.
Tillman has lost a whopping eight bouts and collected unanimous draw decision in two. Apart from that, he is more experienced than Sonny Bill Williams, the 238-pounder, was formerly a rugby player.
Since May 27, 2009, Williams has stood against four competitors in the squared ring and has confidently come out victorious in all. He won two of those brawls by knockout. Though his win-loss ratio is 100% but he lacks experience and resilience which will
give a definite advantage to Tillman.
The upcoming bout is pivotal for both of these men since none of them has grabbed the title ever. This is the first time both men will compete for the New Zealand’s apex heavyweight title. A win for any one of the two pugilists will substantially affect
their stats.
When asked to comment on his 26-year-old young opponent, Tillman said, “I'm gonna beat the h**l out of this dude. He can't fight, he doesn't know what he's doing. I saw his last fight with Alipate [Liava'a]. He was throwing punches and he was spinning around,
turning his back. Like, who does that? When they told me that they chose me [as his next opponent], I felt disrespected almost. I was actually surprised that he was going to fight Tutaki. I think Richard would have beaten him or ... gone really close.”
The 127kg 1.96m tall Tillman is pretty confident at what his game plan is. Claudelands arena will definitely enjoy the bout if both men give everything what they have in them.
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