Sonny Bill Williams

At 39 years old, Sonny Bill Williams has this physical status:

Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who competes for the Toronto Wolfpack in the Betfred Super League and New Zealand at international level. He is a former rugby union footballer and heavyweight boxer.

Since first playing for New Zealand in rugby union, he is one of only 20 players to have won multiple Rugby World Cups. Williams began his rugby career in a two-year stint with the Canterbury Bulldogs and Sydney Roosters, and continued as a second-row forward in two spells in the National Rugby League (NRL).

He has won 12 caps for New Zealand (the Kiwis) and the RLIF Awards for Rookie of the Year in 2004 and 2013 (International Player of the Year). He first joined Toulon in 2010 and had spells with Toulon, Canterbury, Counties Manukau, the Crusaders, Chiefs, and Blues in Japan.

He earned 58 caps for New Zealand (the All Blacks) and was part of the 2011 and 2015 World Cup teams.

He has also played rugby sevens for New Zealand, competing in the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series and the 2016 Olympics. Williams has boxed regularly, winning all of his heavyweight matches.

He was the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA) Heavyweight Champion and World Boxing Association (WBA) International Heavyweight Champion, but he was stripped of these titles after failing to respond to challenges.

Early life

Williams was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 3rd, the son of a Samoan father, Ioane ("John") Williams, and mother Lee Woolsey, who is half-New Zealander and half-Australian. He has an older brother, John Arthur, as well as younger twin sisters, Niall and Denise.

Williams grew up in a working-class family in a state house in Mount Albert, New Zealand. Williams later said that the "driving factor" in his attempt to play in competitive rugby league was to "get my mom a house." He attended Owairaka School, Wesley Intermediate, and Mount Albert Grammar School. To make it fairer, he was described as a "very shy white kid," as well as "a rare athletic ability," a champion high jumper, and a cross country runner." Despite being predicted to have a promising future in athletics, Williams decided against it when he was about twelve years old. Williams has said it was his mother who introduced him to the sport, despite the fact that his father was an excellent rugby league player.

Personal life

Niall Williams' younger sister, who is now a New Zealand international touch football captain and a former New Zealand rugby sevens player, is a Williams' younger sister. In the 2011 Auckland Rugby League season, his older brother John Arthur Williams has competed in rugby league, as well as for the Phelan Shield premiers, the New Lynn Stags. Williams is the cousin of brothers Henry and Marcus Perenara, who are former professional rugby league players. Tim Nanai-Williams and Cardiff Blues player Nick Williams is also the cousin of rugby player and Chiefs teammate Tim Nanai-Williams and Cardiff Blues player Nick Williams. Williams is also closely related to current All Blacks teammate TJ Perenara.

Williams is often referred to as "SBW"

When Williams was in France playing for Toulon, he converted to Islam in 2009. He is the first Muslim to play for the All Blacks and has written extensively about his faith. In 2018, he made an Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca and subsequently to Medina. He is a dual citizen of New Zealand and Samoa. "It's a sad time when we choose economic benefits over humanity" in 2019. Williams is married to Alana Raffie (whom he met at a store) and has four children.

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