NSW Waratahs scum half Teddy Wilson admits he’s keen to showcase his junior boxing prowess in a cross-code fight after re-signing with the club for 2025.
Wilson is one of four from Easts’ Shute Shield winning side to re-commit to NSW, with Wilson considered one of the brightest prospects in Rugby Union after captaining the Junior Wallabies in 2023.
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However, he easily could’ve gone down the boxing route such was his prowess.
Wilson was an Australia Schoolboy champion in 2016 in the 44kg division, claiming the title on the same card as Australian boxing star and number one ranked super bantamweight Sam Goodman and Paris bronze medalist Charlie Senior.
“When I was younger I just started when I was at school when it was one of the school sports and started to enjoy it a fair bit so started to take it a bit more seriously and then ended up having about nine fights when I was younger around 14-15 and loved it,” he told rugby.com.au
“It was great for your mental strength, physically and for fitness as well. It helped me in terms of coming back to footy, you’re a lot mentally stronger and have been to darker and tougher places when you’re in a boxing ring than a footy field.
“It’s hard to find time but maybe in the off season when we get our annual leave and we get a month off, I sometimes do like to hit the pads just to keep fit.”
Wilson’s focus remains on the Waratahs and competing with Wallabies scrum half and Waratahs captain Jake Gordon for the starting scrum half position.
But with cross-code athlete, particularly NRL, boxing fights popping up through Australian promoters No Limit, Wilson revealed the prospect of pulling on the gloves again intrigued him.
“Definitely I’d be open to it, 100%,” he said.
“I’ve always thought about it but first priority is building a bigger name for myself and rugby union first and achieving things in Rugby first but if the opportunity was to ever come up and No Limit wanted to do something with a league-union crossover, I’d definitely be open to it.
“It’d be something pretty cool and hopefully could represent all the union boys.
“I haven’t really thought about (an opponent), maybe one of the Panthers boys, I’m not really a Panthers supporter.
“It’d be something cool to look forward to maybe in the future.”
He has the support of the NSW Waratahs teammates, with good mate and flyhalf Jack Bowen backing his ability.
“Ask his brother (former Waratah Harry), he’s dropped him about five or ten times but he can definitely box,” Bowen responded when asked about Wilson’s talent.
“I haven’t seen him too much in action because he’s a pretty quiet guy and doesn’t like to talk himself up but when Harry started to lip up or Mosese (Tuipulotu) was here, he definitely put on the gloves and throws them down.
“It’d be good to get him into the ring and see him throw a couple.”
Both Wilson and Bowen were riding the high after breaking Easts’ 55-year drought without a Shute Shield title, silencing the controversy around their player points saga and delivering the shield back to Woollahra.
“To win that final was something very special," Wilson added.
“…There’s a lot of chat throughout the year around easts but we didn’t buy into it too much. We didn’t focus on that and the noise around it but it made us stronger as a group.
“We knew we had to focus on the job in front of us and that’s what we ended up doing on the weekend and we were fortunate enough to get the win in the end.”
