Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

While Sidline Sid is a passionate fan of amateur boxing – the Sonny Bill Williams charade screened on Sky TV on Sunday reinforced his views of all that is wrong with professional boxing.

In my book, Sky should have paid all of the people who watched the SBW circus the nearly 40 bucks viewing fee, instead of fleecing a gullible audience.

The bout between SBW and the gospel-singing tub of lard was a joke.

Halfway through the first stanza the OPPONENT was struggling for breath with his best shots no more than desperate lunges.

While SBW is a superb athlete, he has a lot to learn about boxing and a credible opponent would have walked all over him.

However, this is professional boxing where OPPONENTS with no skills are thrown to the lions against rising PROSPECTS.

No fight on the undercard showed the lack of credibility of pro boxing more, than the fight between an 18 year old prospect and a 36 year old having his first fight.

The youngster, who is trained by Tony Mundine, one of the most highly regarded Australian trainers, simply demolished the first timer in the first round.

The Aussie boy threw one of the sweetest rights that you will ever see to land on the button – with his opponent's legs simply folding under him.

Two fighters with Western Bay connections fought on the undercard too.

Gunnar Jackson, who has been the busiest pro in New Zealand in the last year, was having his 10th bout in 12 months.

While Jackson narrowly lost his first bout, he has since gone on to impress with seven wins and two draws on his ledger card.

Now regarded as a rising prospect, Gunnar faced Nuisila Seiulu on Sunday, whose best quality can only be described as his durability.

The Tauranga Boxing Club pugilist took his time settling down in the first round and was content to pick his shots.

While the first stanza was reasonably close, Gunnar took the fight to Seiulu in the next three rounds, throwing a beautiful array of combinations and the result was never in doubt earning a unanimous decision.

Dave Aloua-Rogers, who joined the likes of David Tua and Shane Cameron, when he annexed two New Zealand Amateur Heavyweight titles, when trained in Tauranga by Chris Walker, is a great prospect.

With power to burn in both hands, Dave always looked to be well suited to the paid to punch ranks.

Now trained in Sydney by Tony Mundine, Dave is on a pathway to title fights.

Last Sunday night he took the short route when he stopped Henry Tani in the fourth round.

While success in the professional ranks can never be guaranteed, Dave is in the best possible environment with sparring against some the hottest prospects in Australian boxing.

While all attention was given to SBW, the real main event was the final fight on the night.

Tony Mundine, who the Aussie boxing public love to hate, fought a genuine opponent in American Xavier Toliver.

The final bout was the best fight of the night. The American boxer looked trim and ready to fight and possessed a 27 win 6 loss record going into the bout.

While the American camp threw in the towel in the seventh round, he gave Mundine plenty to think about in the early rounds before Mundine grabbed the ascendancy.

The best news to come out of the weekend was the SBW announcement that he will have no more fights before the World Cup.

Seeya at the Game