Sonny Bill wins again!

Taken from ESPNscrum.com

Crusaders centre Sonny Bill Williams emerged from his fourth professional boxing bout unscathed on Saturday night, winning a unanimous decision over 43-year-old Alipate Liav'a at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere.

The fight, to raise money for the ongoing Christchurch earthquake relief effort, went the distance but Williams was a comfortable winner on the judge's cards, taking all six rounds.

The 25-year-old was accompanied to the ring by fellow Crusaders Ben and Owen Franks, while All Black coaches Graham Henry, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen were joined in the crowd by Crusaders boss Todd Blackadder.

"A couple of times I thought that I had him but he is like a rock," Williams said afterwards. "I was pretty nervous with this being my first fight in New Zealand. Now I can concentrate on the Crusaders and All Blacks."

The Crusaders, on a bye from Super Rugby this week, face the Blues next weekend in a game that could go a long way to deciding which side tops the New Zealand conference. The Blues currently hold a two-point advantage but have lost their last three matches

http://www.espnscrum.com/super-rugby-2011/rugby/story/141026.html?CMP=OTC-RSS


What do people make of him boxing and playing rugby?

He defiantly is not a boxer and would truly be out of his depth against a decent opponent Alipate Liav'a is a washed out has been

Totally agree with Cymro.

I have seen a few of his fights and he has only ever fought old, overweight, unprepared never have beens.

He doesn't have great boxing technique and against a real opponent he would just get pasted. But I guess that's the point. he doesn't want to take a beating and not be able to play rugby for a month, so this is just another form of training I guess.

Oh no! Not Alipate Liav'a! He makes Mike Tyson quake in his boots! Good thing he's playing well known boxers like that otherwise you'd think he's just doing two sports for publicity reasons!

DaDubs1 wrote:Oh no! Not Alipate Liav'a! He makes Mike Tyson quake in his boots! Good thing he's playing well known boxers like that otherwise you'd think he's just doing two sports for publicity reasons!

Or, just maybe, for the charity that was mentioned in the report.

Didint he start boxing while he was still in Aus playing league, it seems to be something that has been in him for a long time. I guess it is just something that further demonstrates his athletic ability, and it was for a good cause.

He'd have NO chance vs Tuilagi. Great right hook.

here are some highlights for those who havent seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d_xWbvNAYM

Greybeard, your reply is most unsatisfactory as i'm trying to slate the guy for being successful on two fronts

Away wit ye boyo!

Apologies as I'm sure this has been done before - but as a pro rugby player how is he allowed to have pro boxing bouts?? I don't understand.

offload wrote:Apologies as I'm sure this has been done before - but as a pro rugby player how is he allowed to have pro boxing bouts?? I don't understand.

He had it written into his NZRU contract that he was allowed 2 fights this year. It's one of the reasons why he signed up for NZ over the bigger money Toulon deal.

DaDubs1 wrote:Greybeard, your reply is most unsatisfactory as i'm trying to slate the guy for being successful on two fronts

Away wit ye boyo!

Apologies, from now on I shall endeavour to ensure every time you think of me you are entirely satisfied.

Oh hang on, that didn't sound right.

Kiwireddevil wrote:

offload wrote:Apologies as I'm sure this has been done before - but as a pro rugby player how is he allowed to have pro boxing bouts?? I don't understand.

He had it written into his NZRU contract that he was allowed 2 fights this year. It's one of the reasons why he signed up for NZ over the bigger money Toulon deal.

Thanks. Although I can't believe the NZRU were particularly happy about it.

Well done him, he beat up an out of shape 43 year old with only one fully functioning arm...

I find the whole thing ugly. Why does he do it?
For money? No, he gave that to charity.
For a sporting contest? No, he's a fit young athlete taking on out of shape blokes on disability benefit and not boxers who could make a contest of it and test him.
For the fame? his rugby career already brings him far more of that.
For the love of beating people up who are weaker than him? Sadly this is the most obvious reason I can see for why he does it.

I agree snoopster. SBW's mentor and hero Anthony Mundine obviously has him brainwashed into believing he's a talented boxer. SBW would be better served focusing on the day job than risking injury by getting into hugging contests with 20st middle aged bricklayers and bin men.

Come on hands up, who secretly hopes he ends up in a scrap with Manu Tuilagi at the world cup?

Whos your money on.....

Has anyone seen the Simpsons episode where Homer becomes a boxer?

Moe (Homer's coach): "You're fighting a guy named Boxcar Bob....he's a hungry fighter. In fact, he's fighting for a sandwich."

For boxing credibility, SBW's record reads similarly. But he's not aiming to become heavyweight champion of the world!

In terms of fitness, boxing is arguably the toughest sport there is, and for Henry, Blackadder et al the risk is minimal: SBW's hobby is far more likely to keep him in prime physical condition than it is to get him seriously hurt or injured.

Good luck to him: he might not be fighting hall-of-famers, but he's still getting punched in the face which definitely takes some balls...

[quote="Adam"]

In terms of fitness, boxing is arguably the toughest sport there is, and for Henry, Blackadder et al the risk is minimal: SBW's hobby is far more likely to keep him in prime physical condition than it is to get him seriously hurt or injured.


Unless he develops a bleed on the brain of course!

I didn't know that he boxed, it does seem strange that his allowed to do this during the rugby season especially in a World Cup year, I've heard of rugby players playing summer sports before like cricket, athletics etc but not boxing!

As I said, the risk is minimal.

The chances are that boxing will keep him fitter than a butcher's dog.

Adam wrote:As I said, the risk is minimal.

There is always a risk when someone punches you in the head!

Adam wrote:Has anyone seen the Simpsons episode where Homer becomes a boxer?

Moe (Homer's coach): "You're fighting a guy named Boxcar Bob....he's a hungry fighter. In fact, he's fighting for a sandwich."

For boxing credibility, SBW's record reads similarly. But he's not aiming to become heavyweight champion of the world!

In terms of fitness, boxing is arguably the toughest sport there is, and for Henry, Blackadder et al the risk is minimal: SBW's hobby is far more likely to keep him in prime physical condition than it is to get him seriously hurt or injured.

Good luck to him: he might not be fighting hall-of-famers, but he's still getting punched in the face which definitely takes some balls...

I'm not so sure. Didn't he have he fight last summer with a stress fracture in his leg? He wasn't able to play rugby at the time but was still able to fight some middle aged night club bouncer chap.

I'm sure Henry couldn't be happy with that but then again as it's in his contract there's nothing he can do.

I don't think it takes balls to fight handpicked part-timers? It takes more balls for the middleaged overweight stiffs he's fighting to get in the ring with a prime young athlete I'd say.