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EXCLUSIVE: SONNY Bill Williams has been offered a $1 million carrot to become New Zealand's undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in a deal that could hasten his exit from rugby league.
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The move comes as former Bulldogs scout Mark Hughes, the man who signed SBW as a teenager, urged him to quit the Roosters after Sunday night's NRL Grand Final to play for the Warriors.
As Williams prepares for what could be his final appearance in the NRL, The Sunday Mail has obtained the document offering him a seven-figure sum to end any doubts about his boxing ability.
The extraordinary purse is being financed by Duco Events, the company that recently brokered a deal with the NRL to stage the inaugural Nines tournament in Auckland this February.
Former Kiwi league Test forward Dean Lonergan personally emailed the offer to Williams' manager Khoder Nasser Saturday morning.
The Roosters have sought NRL assistance to keep Williams in the sport, primarily requesting that any potential earnings from his boxing pursuits not be included in the club's salary cap.
But the $1 million offer is an insight into what Williams stands to earn in the fight game, and why the NRL may be reluctant to provide salary-cap dispensation for money earned in rival sports.
Lonergan labelled Williams a "joke" in boxing terms. He says the dual international can prove himself beyond doubt by agreeing to face the winner of the Afa Tatupu-Joseph Parker bout for the New Zealand national boxing federation title this Thursday night.
The 21-year-old Parker is a 103kg thrashing machine rated New Zealand's best fighter in 25 years. He knocked out Francois Botha in two rounds in June, four months after Williams' controversial points win over the South African in a shortened 10-round bout.
"Our proposal is this: the winner of the Parker-Tatupu bout, we are prepared to back them with a $1 million, winner-take-all fight against Sonny Bill Williams," Lonergan said Saturday.
"We've decided to offer Sonny Bill a million dollars, does he want it or not? It is the biggest pay day Sonny will ever get in boxing.
"If he wants to dominate the world of boxing, he has to take on the best.
"At the moment, he has zero cred in the boxing community and until he takes on a legitimate person who can actually fight, he is a joke in boxing circles.
"Khoder says Sonny Bill will be the heavyweight champion of the world. I can guarantee Sonny would ordinarily run a million miles from a guy like Joseph Parker, who would destroy him in three rounds.
"But when you put up a million dollars, that is a huge carrot ... let's see if Sonny Bill has the confidence to take it."
Parker is undefeated in six professional fights, winning five by knockout, while Williams is also unbeaten in six bouts and claimed the WBA International title with his defeat of Botha in February.
But right now, another battle looms for Williams. Rugby or NRL? The Chiefs or the Roosters? Should he claim his second premiership ring Sunday night, even Roosters insiders fear it would be the perfect way for Williams to sign off before returning to rugby for a shot at World Cup glory with the All Blacks in 2015.
Hughes, the former Canterbury premiership player-turned-scout, has a third suggestion. He believes Williams should defect to the Warriors next year, paying homage to the grassroots league system in New Zealand that spawned his rare talent.
Hughes still remembers vividly the 14-year-old he spotted at Hopu Hopu Sports Ground, north of Wellington, on a wet and wild morning in May 1999.
Playing for Auckland, Sonny Bill was a free agent. Hughes, his Bulldogs blazer shielding him from trademark Wellington winds, secured him for $100 a week and a Canterbury tracksuit.
And even then the kid had goals. Forget about playing first-grade, or winning premierships. Well before he turned up at the Roosters this year armed with a notepad and six-pack, Sonny Bill was dreaming big.
"I remember him saying to me he wanted to be New Zealand's greatest player," Hughes recalls.
"Sonny had goals from the start and he has achieved a few more lofty ones.
"He's lost the chance to be their greatest ever player because of his feats in other sports, but I'd like to see him go back and play for the Warriors.
"He would put bums on seats at Warriors games. That's where he came from ... that's who he should have played for in the first place."
Hughes now chuckles at the transformation of Williams. When he arrived at Belmore, he was a 16-year-old living in the Bulldogs house.
To legitimise his club apprenticeship, Williams would walk around Belmore Sports Ground, cleaning bird droppings from seats and polishing the gym equipment that would build and buff his rippling 108kg physique.
"He is the youngest boy I have taken a punt on and everyone now understands why," Hughes says.
"I gave him a scholarship, a tracksuit and $100 a week. Most kids then just came for the chance. I said to his dad as soon as he comes to the club, you have to trust us to look after him.
"It was a chance for Sonny to create his own destiny.
"When we first spoke, he was like Bambi. He didn't carve up at that carnival because he was younger than the 16-year-old robust kids, but I just remember he was everywhere.
"I said to him later, 'Doesn't your coach tell you where to stand in defence?' and he said, 'No, Mr Hughes, he tells me to follow the football.'
"He just loved being near the ball."
Williams has refused to speak to media in the build-up to the Grand Final. But three weeks ago, following their brutal 4-0 defeat of Manly, SBW spent nine minutes talking to assembled scribes.
He spoke softly of one per cent plays, not letting anyone down and his dream of returning to the big dance.
Now he is here.
"You just don't want to be the guy that lets the team down," he said. "The biggest thing I can say is I know I don't want to be the guy that misses a tackle or lets in a soft try. I'm always busting my ass, doing the little one per centers.
"This is where it really counts. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't ... but I know in myself I will be leaving no stone unturned."
With that, Sonny Bill leaves the building. After Sunday night, we may never see him in the NRL again.
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