{"id":336073,"date":"2023-10-03T23:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T23:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336073"},"modified":"2023-10-04T01:01:36","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T01:01:36","slug":"he-has-a-reason-suaaliis-boxer-cousin-bites-at-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336073","title":{"rendered":"'He has a reason': Suaalii's boxer cousin bites at critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic boxer Paulo Aokuso says Joseph Suaalii<\/a> has more than enough reason to ditch the NRL<\/a> to chase big money in Australian rugby union.<\/p>\n

Suaalii raised eyebrows when it was announced that he would leave the Sydney Roosters<\/a> to join Super Rugby Pacific outfit the NSW Waratahs<\/a> on a five-year, $10 million deal with Rugby Australia<\/a> that could eventually see him play for the Wallabies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The monster agreement has drawn criticism from both sides of the divide, with a war of words between league and union bosses ongoing for months on end.<\/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

Suaalii isn't the first to cross the divide and surely won't be the last, but his reasons for accepting the mammoth paycheque aren't superficial.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Aokuso, a first cousin of Suaalii's father, spoke with Wide World of Sports<\/em> ahead of Stan's exclusive pay-per-view event Battle on the Reef<\/a> where he detailed the financial realities for Polynesian athletes.<\/p>\n

He knows it all too well, in the midst of paying off his mother's house by way of professional fights.<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE: <\/strong>\ufeff'He's a giant': Brother could steal Pangai's thunder<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Aussie kicked out of Shanghai Masters after hitting umpire<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Maxwell 'roars to form' to rescue Aussies again<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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"It is what it is \u2013 it's footy. Obviously people are chasing for loyalty in their teams, but as athletes we want to put food on the table for our parents," Aukuso explained.<\/p>\n

"Whatever he chooses to do, that's just his choice. I mean, he has a reason for it and he has a family.<\/p>\n

\"Yunieski<\/p>\n

"We make choices because we want to give what's best for our family here," he added.<\/p>\n

"We don't just want to be playing for like a couple grand. We'll give as much to our parents as we can.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I mean, if I had an offer for a million dollars, bro I'll take it any day. Like, I need to put food on the table for my parents."<\/p>\n

Aukuso is backing Suaalii to make a seamless transition from league to union given his raw ability.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1706489273145581655<\/a><\/p>\n

"He was always dedicated to sports as a kid," Aukuso explained.<\/p>\n

"As a kid, he was always good at athletics, basketball, just anything that he touched, everything he was playing, he was just the best at it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Plus he was really good with his eating, dieting, everything like that. Like I said, anything he does, he's good at it."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1704397482657259778<\/a><\/p>\n

Although Aukuso and Suaalii were tight growing up, their respective journeys have meant they've drifted apart to an extent.<\/p>\n

"We're both busy with what we're doing right now," Aukuso explained.<\/p>\n

"Obviously he's making it big in footy. When we were younger we always used to have barbecues and stuff like every weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He'll tell you, I taught him everything. Yeah, I taught him everything," Aukuso joked.<\/p>\n

"He's all good. His dad is my first cousin. So, we've always been close, like when we were younger. His dad is older. He was like my older cousin for sure."<\/p>\n

To order and watch the<\/strong><\/em> Battle on the Reef<\/strong><\/em> Pay-Per-View customers will need an active Stan subscription. Stan subscribers can order the Pay-Per-View for $50. New customers can sign up for a 30-day free trial and then order the Pay-Per-View for $50.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic boxer Paulo Aokuso says Joseph Suaalii has more than enough reason to ditch the NRL to chase big money in Australian rugby union. Suaalii […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336075,"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\/336073"}],"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=336073"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336077,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336073\/revisions\/336077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/336075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}