Clarence Tillman Ineligible for Heavyweight Boxing Title

The latest opponent for All Black star Sonny Bill Williams' bid for the NZ Professional Boxing Association heavyweight title, Clarence Tillman, will be fighting for the kudos not the belt unless he becomes a New Zealand resident.

New Orleans-born Tillman has a New Zealand work permit but is not yet a resident, which makes him ineligible for the title to be contested at Claudelands Arena in Hamilton on February 8.

The issue of eligibility was confirmed recently by Pat Leonard, the national secretary of the NZPBA. However, Leonard said the heavyweight could challenge for the title if he became a resident.

If Tillman became a Kiwi, Leonard said his opponent would likely be Joey Wilson, an Auckland boxer who beat the American in a split decision in 2010.

Williams' bout with previous opponent Richard Tutaki was cancelled after it was discovered by promoters that he was facing drugs charges including possession of methamphetamine and drug utensils.

Tillman will present a serious challenge for Williams, who has only fought four professional bouts in his career and each of those has been carefully selected to give him easy wins.

A former professional footballer, Tillman is a giant of a fighter at 1.96m tall and about 127kg who has good credentials in the ring. Among those scalps he has picked up off the canvas is Tutaki, who he beat in a split decision last year.

When asked about the residency issue Tillman said: "That doesn't matter to me, I would give the title up. There are guys here who deserve it.''

Settling in Auckland in 2010 after coming to the city to fight Junior Pati, Tillman has had 21 professional bouts with a record of 11 wins, eight losses and two draws.

Backed by his solid record, a confident Tillman boasted he would “beat the hell out of [Williams].''

"He can't fight, he doesn't know what he's doing. I saw his last fight with Alipate [Liava'a]. He was throwing punches and he was spinning around, turning his back.

“Like, who does that? When they told me that they chose me [as his next opponent], I felt disrespected almost. I was actually surprised that he was going to fight Tutaki. I think Richard would have beaten him or at least gone really close.''

The mammoth fighter confirmed he is in good shape having been training to fight former league player Solomon Haumono in Australia before he got the call to fight Williams.