{"id":378048,"date":"2024-03-21T02:14:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T03:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378048"},"modified":"2024-03-21T04:02:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T04:02:38","slug":"pangai-confesses-to-fake-bad-boy-boxing-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378048","title":{"rendered":"Pangai confesses to 'fake bad boy' boxing act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tevita Pangai Junior<\/a> has no regrets about last year's bombshell decision to quit the NRL and pursue a career in boxing.<\/p>\n

But the 28-year-old does wish he \ufeffcould walk back some of his subsequent trash talking<\/a> after admitting to a "fake bad boy" act.<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior will attempt to extend his professional heavyweight record to 4-0 when he takes on New Zealand's Raphael Sa'u (one win, one draw) in Saturday's 'The Fists and The Furious' fight night.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fists and The Furious is live and exclusive on Stan Sport this Saturday from 6.30pm AEDT,<\/strong><\/em> and is included free with a Stan Sport subscription<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1769643760902914275?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"I love my boxing and I've said some things in the past – people don't understand the business of boxing," Pangai Junior told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We're not on a set salary where you get hundreds of thousands of dollars – boxers, we get paid by bums on seats and pay per view and it's show business, it's entertainment. So I was painted as a bad boy in the NRL and obviously that sells in boxing.<\/p>\n

"But at the end of the day that wasn't me. I'm not Anthony Mundine and I'm not Paul Gallen. So I'm just going to be myself and I'm a good guy that's made mistakes. I'm going to continue to make mistakes but I'm a family man and I love my boxing and I love my rugby league."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sabalenka shares new detail on 'unthinkable tragedy'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Huge coup for Dogs as Ugle-Hagan shuns rivals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Matildas cop powerhouse teams in Olympics draw<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tevita<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior said the change of tack to a more chilled out approach had been made after some reflection and speaking with his team.<\/p>\n

"I obviously wanted to come into boxing and make some noise and try to sell the fight for the promoters who are putting in the hard work," he explained.<\/p>\n

"But at the end of the day, it doesn't sit well with me and it's not me.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1770241124021551531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"I'm not a bad boy. People are real these days and they can see someone that's being fake. And it's not me."<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior hopes to have "three or four" more fights this year beyond Saturday's Sa'u showdown.<\/p>\n

The one game New South Wales prop is juggling boxing \ufeffwith playing for Karmichael Hunt's Souths Logan Magpies\ufeff in the Queensland Cup this season and is hoping for a Broncos NRL return next year.<\/p>\n

\"Tevita<\/p>\n

"Karmichael \ufeffhas been really good for me, he's been understanding with my boxing training," Pangai Junior said.<\/p>\n

"So it hasn't been that hard to juggle, to be honest. I love both sports and I have time for both. There's a lot of hours in the day to fill up."<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior said he viewed his foray into boxing as a success so far but all that could go out the window with a loss on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/p>\n

He had been honing his ring craft with "hard sparring" sessions against dangerous Australian heavyweight Toese Vousiutu and another league player turned boxer in Alex Leapai Junior\ufeff.<\/p>\n

"I'm trying to learn the boxing craft but obviously everyone loves a knockout. That's what puts bums on seats and gets people excited," he said.<\/p>\n

"So I'll be boxing but if the time comes and the knockout's there, then I'll go for it. I've watched a bit of his footage and he's (Sa'u) a pretty slick boxer but I feel like the hard work I put in will get me over the line on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1770280017941168477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"It will be a step up, a hard fight but definitely one I'm ready for."<\/p>\n

In the main event on Saturday, \ufeffundefeated Olympics star Paulo Aokuso will take on dangerous Ghanaian Emmanuel Danso in his quest to capture more world titles.\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the card, two Aussie Olympians bound for Paris will get their final tune-ups, with super heavyweight monster Teremoana Junior and Tina Rahimi both in action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tevita Pangai Junior has no regrets about last year's bombshell decision to quit the NRL and pursue a career in boxing. But the 28-year-old does […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":378050,"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\/378048"}],"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=378048"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378052,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378048\/revisions\/378052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/378050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}