Sonny Bill Williams will return to the boxing ring in June for his fourth professional fight and will soon name an opponent with the skills to punch his lights out, the All Blacks center said yesterday.
The pay-per-view fight would be held on June 6 in Auckland to coincide with the Canterbury Crusaders’ second bye in the Super Rugby season and Williams said he was seeking a step up in class for his next opponent.
“I’m not a world beater at this stage ... I will definitely be in the ring with someone who could knock me out,” the 25-year-old, who won his last fight against Australian Scott Lewis in January with an unanimous points decision, told local media.
The fight, dubbed the “Clash for Canterbury,” would see Rugby League convert Williams donate NZ$100,000 (US$77,500) of his purse to helping victims of the Feb. 22 Christchurch earthquake which killed at least 166 people and leveled much of New Zealand’s second-largest city.
“I’m blessed to be able to make a good earning as a sportsman,” Williams said. “I want to help the hardships people have gone through. This [donation] is a no-brainer for me ... I feel morally obliged. I didn’t come from much and I feel blessed to be where I am now.”
Williams’s boxing aspirations have sparked controversy in New Zealand in a World Cup year in which he is considered a certainty to be named in Graham Henry’s All Blacks squad.
“There is an element of fear and risk, but I want to test the boundaries,” he acknowledged.
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