{"id":380071,"date":"2024-03-28T06:10:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T07:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=380071"},"modified":"2024-03-28T08:02:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T08:02:32","slug":"why-aussie-boxings-next-big-thing-destroyed-a-watermelon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=380071","title":{"rendered":"Why Aussie boxing's next big thing destroyed a watermelon"},"content":{"rendered":"

While many Australians spent their Thursday afternoons tackling some pre-Easter shopping, Alex Leapai Jr was punching a hole through a watermelon.<\/p>\n

It was an ominous omen for his first professional boxing opponent – \ufeffJoe Ageli on Wednesday night – and it was also a timely homage to his famous father.<\/p>\n

Ten years ago Alex Leapai Sr fought Wladimir Klitschko for the world heavyweight title<\/a> and while the Australian was outclassed by the Ukraine legend, gracing that stage was an incredible achievement.<\/p>\n

The Gathering is live and exclusive on Stan pay per view.<\/strong><\/em> CLICK HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a> for more information<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Wladimir<\/p>\n

Before leaving for Germany in 2014, Leapai Sr also punched through a poor melon at the Brisbane markets as a publicity stunt.\ufeff<\/p>\n

His 18-year-old, 120kg son – who \ufeffwalked away from a bright future in the NRL to go all in on boxing this year<\/a> – believes he can go one better and become a world champion.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI was so young, only eight when that happened, so I didn't really know what was going on," Leapai Jr told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Fittler reveals Souths star Dogs must terrorise<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Yikes!': NBA villain drags Aussie icon by the neck<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Mundine makes surprise move amid Latrell feud<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"But as I got older and got into boxing I understood what a big accomplishment that was. I'm real proud with everything dad accomplished and I guess it's just my time now."<\/p>\n

Leapai Sr will be in Adelaide to watch his son debut at The Gathering<\/em>, which also features AFL luminaries and Jackson England's world title fight.<\/p>\n

His father's trademark punch was the overhead right but Leapai Jr says his money maker will be his straight right.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

He lists another heavyweight world title challenger, New Zealand's David Tua, \ufeffamong his boxing idols and wants to continue to fly the flag for Pasifika fighters.<\/p>\n

"I never take a backward step and if a brother thinks he's hitting me hard then he should know that when I hit back, I want to hit him harder," Leapai Jr said.<\/p>\n

"So they should expect nothing but fireworks, to be honest."<\/p>\n

\"AFL<\/p>\n

THE GATHERING AFL CARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u200b \u200bKane Cornes v Nathan Brown<\/p>\n

\u200bDane Swan v Dale Thomas<\/p>\n

\u200bMitch Robinson v Kayne Pettifer<\/p>\n

\u200bAnthony Rocca v Corey McKernan<\/p>\n

THE GATHERING \u200b PROFESSIONAL CARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u200bJackson England (15-4) v Jamel Herring (24-4) – WBO Global Super Featherweight Title<\/p>\n

\u200bJack Brubaker (17-5-2) v In Duk Seo (15-3-2) – Super Welterweight<\/p>\n

\u200bJoel Camilleri (27-8-1) v Joel Pavlides (5-2-1) – Middleweight<\/p>\n

\u200bAlex Leapai Jr (0-0) v Joe Ageli (2-1) – Heavyweight<\/p>\n

\u200bSergei Vorobev (22-2) v Wes Capper (22-5-1) – Middleweight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While many Australians spent their Thursday afternoons tackling some pre-Easter shopping, Alex Leapai Jr was punching a hole through a watermelon. It was an ominous […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380073,"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\/380071"}],"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=380071"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380078,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380071\/revisions\/380078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/380073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=380071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=380071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=380071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}