professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
. His career highlight was a fight against
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...
in 2014, for the
WBA (Super)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level.
Founded i ...
WBO
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...
titles.
Early life
Leapai's parents, Faataui and Leitu, moved their family from Laulii, Samoa when he was 7 to
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, where they lived until he was 12. In New Zealand, Leapai attended Owairaka Primary School in Mt Albert and played
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
for
Marist Saints
The Marist Saints is a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. They currently compete in the top grade in Auckland Rugby League, the Fox Memorial Premiership.
History
Founded in 1919, the Marist club first won the Fox Memorial in 1 ...
, as did his one-time sparring partner
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...
. Upon moving to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, Leapai's family settled in
Logan, Queensland
The City of Logan is a local government area (LGA) located in the south of Greater Brisbane in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. Situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and the City of Gold Coast to the south, the City of Logan ...
. In Logan, Leapai played junior rugby league for Logan Brothers alongside future Australian rugby league and rugby union international Lote Tuqiri. While playing for Brothers, Leapai was offered a scholarship with the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
side, the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
.Burgin, Robert (24 April 2014). "Brothers in Arms". ''Rugby League Week'', p. 36.
Leapai has four brothers, Leati, Stefano and Faatni (known as Leroy), who spent four years with the
London Broncos
The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...
in the
Super League
Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
. His cousin is
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
representative
Josh Papalii
Joshua Papali'i (born 13 May 1992) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League. He has played for both Australia national rugby league team, Australia and Samoa nationa ...
.
Professional career
Alex Leapai defeated Denis Boytsov on 23 November 2013 in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Boytsov was the WBO's
mandatory challenger
In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...
for Klitschko, but when Leapai defeated Boytsov, Leapai was named mandatory challenger even though the Boytsov-Leapai bout was not an official elimination bout.
Dan Rafael for ESPN.com reported on 3 February 2014 that "Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will make his 16th title defense when he faces Alex Leapai, one of his mandatory challengers, on 26 April in at the König-Pilsener-Arena in Oberhausen, Germany, as K2 Promotions announced Monday. The Klitschko and Leapai camps had agreed to a deal several weeks ago, which allowed them to avoid a purse bid, but it has now been signed. Leapai (30-4-3, 24 KOs), 34, a native of Samoa living in Australia, came out of nowhere to be appointed as the mandatory challenger by the WBO after scoring a major upset."
Leapai vs. Wladmir Klitschko
Despite the fact that Klitschko possessed an overwhelming advantage over his challenger, the Ukrainian was quoted as saying the bout was "the most important fight of my career" due to the political backdrop of the encounter from a Ukrainian point of view. Early in 2014 Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and consequently, both nations were mobilising for the possibility of war in the short term. Vladmir's brother
Vitali Klitschko
Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv, As the fight Klitschko claimed the spectacle would be ever important to "boost the morale" of his countrymen.
Former world heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs interrupted a pre-fight press conference in Germany just days before the anticipated bout. Briggs challenged Klitschko for a fight and accused Leapai of being an unworthy opponent for Klitschko.
Leapai was knocked out by Klitschko in the fifth round of a fight scheduled for 12 rounds."Wladimir Klitschko beats Alex Leapai to keep titles" ''
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...
''.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2016. Leapai was knocked down barely more than a minute into the bout. Klitschko retained his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO championship belts and used his height and reach advantage to control the fight with Leapai. Leapai reportedly rattled his opponent once in the fight before Klitschko responded with a flurry of blows that eventually dropped the Australian to the canvas.
Career after world title shot
In his next fight, Leapai fought
Malik Scott
Dohonna Malik Scott (born October 16, 1980) is an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2016.
Amateur career
Scott started boxing at the age of 11 and had a stellar amateur career. In 1997, he won the J ...
. Leapai lost the fight via unanimous decision, losing 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92 on the scorecards.
On two weeks notice, Alex Leapai took a fight against former
WBO
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...
champion Joseph Parker (boxer) after his deal with Eric Molina fell through during the signing stages. Leapai went on to lose after a tenth-round stoppage. Despite protests from Leapai, the referee Ricky Gonzalez stopped the fight after Parker landed seven straight punches to the head of his opponent.
Personal life
Leapai is married to his high school sweetheart, Theresa, and has six children. Four daughters (Cyanne, Maria, Menime and Ivona) and two sons (Alex and EJ).
In 2005, Leapai spent six months in Queensland'sWoodford Correctional Centre on a
grievous bodily harm
Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the ...
charge after attacking two bouncers.
An avid rugby league fan, Leapai supports the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
*WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight title
*WBO Oriental heavyweight title
*IBF Australasian heavyweight title
*
OPBF
The Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) is a professional boxing organization that sanctions title fights in the Asian and Pacific region.
History
Oriental boxing started in the Philippines in 1946 after the Spanish-American War. Whi ...