{"id":325939,"date":"2023-08-25T02:45:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T02:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325939"},"modified":"2023-08-25T05:00:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T05:00:37","slug":"nrl-call-pangai-refuses-to-make-after-quitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325939","title":{"rendered":"NRL call Pangai refuses to make after quitting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tevita Pangai Junior<\/a> admits he can't let himself think about ever returning to the NRL<\/a> for fear it'll hurt his chances of succeeding in boxing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> star sensationally turned down a $750,000 deal to become a professional fighter.<\/p>\n

In the wake of his rugby league retirement, Pangai said he no longer had passion for the NRL and wanted to focus on a sport that gives him more enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from 'Battle on the Reef' on October 7.<\/strong><\/em> Available to watch via pay-per-view live and exclusively on Stan<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Asked whether he would ever consider returning to rugby league, the 27-year-old Ashfield-born ace turned down the notion.<\/p>\n

"Like I said, if I'm thinking like that then I'm gonna fail," Pangai said at a press conference on Thursday to announce his first fight after retiring from the NRL.<\/p>\n

"My heart is in boxing and I'm gonna give it my all, and we'll see what that is."<\/p>\n

\"Tevita<\/p>\n

Pangai's move away from the NRL is especially bold considering his relatively short boxing career to date.<\/p>\n

The former Tongan international has just two professional fights to his name, the latest on the Sonny Bill Williams vs Mark Hunt undercard last year.<\/p>\n

Pangai's first fight since retiring will be as part of the 'Battle on the Reef' program, which will be streamed live and exclusively on Stan Pay-Per-View from the Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre on October 7.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Panthers' three-peat chances rocked by Luai injury<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Spanish football president set to quit over World Cup saga<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Mundine says Latrell, Walker 'deserve' bigger say<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

As far as what succeeding in boxing looks like for Pangai?<\/p>\n

"Just give it my best every day. Doing what I love. Working on my discipline," he explained.<\/p>\n

"That was one of the big reasons I walked away from rugby league. You're in a sport where talent can't get you to the level you want to get to. This sport, it requires 100 per cent. You can't be 50-50."<\/p>\n

\"Tevita<\/p>\n

Pangai is conscious he's taking a massive leap without much of a safety net, especially having given away a cushy $750,000 deal to continue playing rugby league.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt in his mind he's made the right decision, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Obviously it is scary, but this is what I wanna do and this is what I love," Pangai reasoned.<\/p>\n

"I said the other day that I was sort of forced into it (rugby league), but any smart parent would lead their kids to play football instead of boxing.<\/p>\n

"So I thank my parents for that and it's given me the life I have today, but you come to an age where you want to do what you want to do and what you've always wanted to do \u2013 and that's boxing for me."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tevita Pangai Junior admits he can't let himself think about ever returning to the NRL for fear it'll hurt his chances of succeeding in boxing. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325939"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325944,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325939\/revisions\/325944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/325941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}