Boxing promoter Dean Lonergan says Justis Huni would 'burst the mystique' of Sonny Bill Williams

Williams' trainer Andy Lee has doubled down on claims the NRL premiership and Rugby World Cup winner could fight for the world heavyweight championship within two years.

It comes in the wake of his one-round demolition of AFL great Barry Hall, but Huni's promoter Dean Lonergan says Williams would be in for a rude wake-up call against one of the sport's brightest young talents.

Former middleweight world champion Lee trains WBC heavyweight title holder Tyson Fury and Joseph Parker. Williams spent time in camp with the trio, showing enough for Lee to suggest he could one day challenge for the world title.

But Lonergan believes Williams [9-0] wouldn't be good enough to take the Australian crown off Huni [5-0], adamant the former football star would not take that fight "in a million years".

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Williams is seemingly on a collision course with Paul Gallen, though few can say that with any confidence given the latter has been chasing that bout for the best part of a decade. Should Williams take that fight and win, Lonergan believes there is only one logical step forward.

"My biggest problem would be trying to convince Rocki Huni that Justis should fight another 'donkey', and that's in Rocki's words," Lonergan said.

"If Sonny has aspirations of going on to the big time, surely he would have to get through Justis Huni. I don't think they'd take it in a million years, no matter how much money they were paid, for the simple fact it would burst the mystique and the bubble of Sonny Bill Williams as he embarks on a career as a boxer.

"I take my hat off to Sonny Bill for trying to do what he is doing, it's not an easy path and boxing is a very hard sport, but for Andy Lee to suggest he could contend for the heavyweight champion of the world? It's one thing to train with the heavyweight champion which is what Sonny Bill has been doing, it's quite another to be the heavyweight champ.

"If he wanted to go down that path of serious boxing, Justis Huni is the most obvious place for him to go. It's fair to say I don't think they'd ever take that fight, and if they did, they know they'd lose.

"It's fair to say that if they came together Sonny would be horribly exposed for his lack of a boxing background. He was very good [against Hall] ... but he's up against a 45-year-old who is quite clearly past it. It would be a way different story against a 22-year-old beast who just wants to fight."

Huni is poised to make his long-awaited return to the ring against Kiki Leutele [7-1-2] on the undercard of Jai Opetaia's cruiserweight world title shot against Mairis Briedis on the Gold Coast on May 11.

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