Having a look at the odds for the Sonny Bill Williams v Frans Botha fight that's tomorrow night and couldn't believe to see odds for Quade Cooper too! A spot of googling confirmed that it's the Aussie No.10's first professional fight on the same card as Williams biggest fight to date. Cooper should be fascinating to watch as it's a bit tougher to imagine him in a ring as opposed to Williams who is a typical tough All Black that plays as tough as you'd expect him to be off the pitch. Cooper meanwhile is pure skill and imagination and whilst isn't afraid of knocks and bumps doesn't take the ball into contact as much as Williams.

Should Bill Williams win vs Botha then he's given hints he might seriously consider which path his future lies, I'd expect him to line up a fight against a more current fighter before deciding that but it will be an absolutely fascinating. (9pm SS)

Another thing of note, Williams fights at Heavyweight and Cooper will be debuting at Cruiserweight.

Would not be surprised to see Botha win this, even though he is 44 and obliterated to bits. As for Cooper's aspirations, he won't go that far, in my opinion. Mundine was one of the few exceptions, most people who switch sports, particulary Boxing, go nowhere ie Mark Gastineau and there are plenty, plenty more.

The Botha / Dunnett double is 13/2! Dunnett apparently floored a very good fighter who he had been sparring with and that admission came from Cooper's corner!

To be honest though I think Botha's been inactive for far too long fighting sporadically and when he has he has looked less than a shadow of his former self. Of his last five fights he's suffered four defeats and been knocked out in three of them.

This is something Williams desperately wants and is a chapter of his life he's not fabricating but chasing. I quite fancy him to stop Botha who looks very haggard with age and Williams fitness will surely play a big part, but naturally the experience of Botha could be overwhelming.

At 7/2 for Williams to stop him, I'm definitely going to have a cheeky bet on that. More heart than head I suspect but nonetheless, he revolutionised rugby with his offloading in the tackle and hope he can make a significant impact tonight. C'mon SBW!

Well Cooper won, but to be honest he looks pretty rubbish and he wont be going anywhere. Harsh maybe, but considering how slow and shot Botha is, Cooper was pretty awful, lacking skill, power, just all round natural ability. Definitely falls into the 'hype' catagory, I'm afraid. Not the first and certainly wont be the last.

You mean Williams? The fact you've got his name wrong on numerous occasions suggests you don't appreciate just how good an athlete this guy is and whilst athletes don't make good fighters, admittedly, some do give you the impression that they just have something different. This guy certainly makes you think he has a lot more than Curtis Woodhouse had entering the ring and he didn't do too badly.

He went in with a gameplan, executed it and came out the victor against an opponent who by your reckoning thought would have too much guile for him. Delighted for Bill-Williams as he really does have aspirations in a sport he clearly loves. Will be very interesting to see who he lines up next

Why was the fight stopped two rounds short?

Also I don't know much about him, but from what I've seen I'm not sure whether it's the fact he likes the sport or the fact he just likes trying to beat the shit out of people.

Ok, its Williams I have no idea who he is but was interested to see how he fared. And yes, he won on points against an old, old, old former HW champion, who is was so slow, he practically creaks when he throws a punch, and runs out of gas after 2 rounds.

With respect, I follow boxing almost as much as I do football, so to me, even at this early stage it is apparent he wont get very far, as he simply lacks so much, as a boxer. It does frustrate and annoy me when sportsmen cross over to Boxing from other sports, primarily because they believe they are pretty handy with their fists. It pollutes the sport somewhat and turns it into a gimmick.

The only redeeming feature to all of this is the fact that 99 times out of 100, they get put in their place. As I said Mundine is the exception. If this guy achieves anywhere near what Curtis Woodhouse has, then that in itself would be an achievement.

They decided mid fight to cut 2 rounds because this Williams guy was in trouble and gassing hard, as well as taking some stick.

Pretty disgraceful thing to do but basically they bent the rules to prevent something unfolding which should not have.

Williams was f***** in the 9th round, reeling all over the shop and then they decide to cut it to 10 rounds. Nicely timed, that.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/boxing-mma ... 6573817667

Williams claims it was 10 rounds and Botha claims it was for 12 rounds, yet the WBA Inter Continental Title is on the line and it is against WBA rules to fight for any of its titles unless its 12 rounds. So I know who I believe.

Sorry but this post creased me, clearly you were a big Botha fan back in his day which is fair enough but your attempt to make up excuses for him are as bad as the man's himself!

Firstly it was ALWAYS scheduled for 10 Rounds, as have been the previous four WBA International HEAVYWEIGHT Titles before last night. It wasn't the Intercontinental Title, David Haye won that when he fought Chisora.

So it was in fact never cut at all and why when any one with access to google could have found out that it was always going to be for 10 rounds but low and behold trailing on the cards Botha couldn't isn't a coincidence in my opinion.

There's the truth in a bottle for you JK.

Erm...no i am not a Botha fan at all. Never have been, never was. A genuine Boxing fan, for years, yes

I can understand that you are a fan of this guy, Williams, but lets remove the hype, clear any emotional attachment and review the landscape with some impartiality.

I love Boxing and despise hype jobs. And this guy is a hype job. Furthermore, there is talk that the WBA will refuse to sanction this fight because it was over 10 rounds. We shall see what happens with that...

No matter, seeing that guy getting rocked, stunned, wobbled by a 44 yr old former IBF HW Champion, tells me all I need to know and just exactly how far this guy, Wiliiams, will progress.

However, by all means, keep believing....

Will amaze me if the WBA refuse to sanction it because they did the four previous. Not believing any hype, not as if there's much to be had as Bill Williams and his boxing adventure hardly receives any press over here. I just want him to be as successful as he possibly can in the ring because the bloke's rugby's version of Messi.

Getting rocked by a 44 year old is no detriment to anybody's boxing ability.

Not sure how many fight fans we have on this board. Probably not too many.