“So we caught up in the changing room after his game on Wednesday, and it was sweet. It was like old mates again. He said, ‘Keep in touch and give my love to your dad’. – Joseph Parker
They are known as two of the most gentlemanly men in sports.
But heavyweight boxing champion Joseph Parker, 22, and multi-talented athlete Sonny Bill Williams, 29, put their long-simmering feud to one side after the Counties Manukau game on Wednesday and patched up their bromance. The bad blood is gone.
The former friends fell out last year after Williams turned down a million-dollar offer from Parker’s reps to put his New Zealand heavyweight boxing belt on the line, and take Parker on in the ring.
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Boxing trash talk ensued between both camps, and Parker reckoned Williams didn’t take boxing seriously enough.
Cue the defriending.
SBW stopped following Parker on Twitter.
“We were good friends, really good friends,” Parker told The Diary.
“We helped each other out in preparation for our fights. He would help me with my sparring, and vice versa. We would send each other good luck messages before our fights. Our families knew each other, we were tight.
“But when Duco [Parker’s management] called him out, I think Sonny felt disrespected. And when I said I didn’t think you could be a part-time boxer, he was upset. He dropped me on social media”.
Time heals, as they say, and SBW put out the white flag.
Parker: “I sent a text to his cousin Tim Nanai-Williams, who’s in the Chiefs, and he told me to come to the game on Wednesday. ‘Sonny wants to see you,’ he said.
“So we caught up in the changing room after his game on Wednesday, and it was sweet. It was like old mates again. He said, ‘Keep in touch and give my love to your dad’.
“Sonny is one of the best athletes and he does well in whatever he puts his mind to. If he goes back into the ring, I wish him all the best”.
Will Parker go a few rounds with him?
“Nah, I don’t think that will ever happen”.
For now, Parker is gearing up for the highly anticipated bout tonight against Sherman “The Tank” Williams at Trusts Arena.
While “The Tank” has gone to ground, only seen at his hotel, The Quest in Parnell, and Boxing Alley, Parker, camped at the Pullman Hotel, is relaxed and planning his social diary.
“I’ve been invited to meet Justin Timberlake next week and I’m going to his concert”.
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