Sonny Bill Williams to fight for Christchurch
All Blacks’ (New Zealand) national rugby star, Sonny Bill Williams, will fight a boxing match in Auckland for his home town, Christchurch, in June 2011.
Williams will play the match to uplift the earthquake hit people of his own city against an unnamed opponent. He announced in his press briefing that it would be his fourth clash in the ring and third as a professional player.
Sonny Bill Williams is also part of New Zealand’s national rugby team for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, kicking off later this year in September. This would be his last fight in the ring before the rugby world championship.
Williams also plays for Crusaders in Super Rugby, in fact he made his Super Rugby debut this year.
Williams’s boxing match is intended to be played for the people of Christchurch, who suffered a fatal quake on 22nd February. The deadly tremor left at least 180 people dead, and as many as 160 missing and tens of thousands of houses collapsed.
Furthermore, the city was deprived of its seven Rugby World Cup matches scheduled to be played in AMI stadium.
The fight has been named "The Clash for Canterbury" and Williams would donate about $NZ100, 000 of his match income for his home city. He told the media that the match would be played on June 5 but his opponent is yet to be announced.
He said: “I'm not a world beater at this stage...I will definitely be in the ring with someone who could knock me out”.
He further said that it would be an honour for him to play for a cause. "I feel it's a bit of the unknown mixing of the two sports. It's never been done. I feel morally obliged. I didn't come from much and I feel blessed to be where I am now”.
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