Elise Leapai (born 16 October 1979) is a
Samoan Australian former
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 bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
. His career highlight was a fight against
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол ...
in 2014, for the
WBA (Super)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
,
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
,
WBO,
IBO,
''The Ring'' magazine and
lineal heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
titles.
Early life
Leapai's parents, Faataui and Leitu, moved their family from
Laulii
Lauli'i is a village on the island of Upolu in Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of the island to the east of the capital Apia. Lauli'i is part of Vaimauga East Electoral Constituency (''Faipule District'') which forms part of the lar ...
, Samoa when he was 7 to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, 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 just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
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 Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...
. Upon moving to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, Leapai's family settled in
Logan, Queensland
Logan City is a local government area situated within the south of the Brisbane metropolitan area in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and the City of Gold Coast to the south, the City also bor ...
. In Logan, Leapai played junior rugby league for
Logan Brothers alongside future Australian rugby league and rugby union international
Lote Tuqiri
Lote Daulako Tuqiri (born 23 September 1979) is a former professional dual-code rugby footballer who primarily played as a winger across both codes. He represented Australia in both rugby league and rugby union, and Fiji in rugby league. Tuqi ...
. While playing for Brothers, Leapai was offered a scholarship with the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
side, the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town 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 in London, England.
The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
in the
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
.
His cousin is
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
representative
Josh Papalii
Josh Papali'i (born 13 May 1992) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for both Australia and Samoa at international level.
He has played at repres ...
.
Professional career
Alex Leapai defeated
Denis Boytsov
Denis Nikolayevich Boytsov (russian: Денис Николаевич Бойцов; born 14 February 1986) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2015.
Amateur career
Boytsov has had a decorated amateur career, including ...
on 23 November 2013 in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. 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 or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
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 took the Crimea from the Ukraine and consequently, both nations were mobilising for the possibility of war in the short term. Vladmir's brother Vitali Klitschko was preparing to run for the Ukrainian presidency in looming May elections and the 37-year-old title holder admitted boxing was second in his mind to the political upheaval in his homeland.
As the fight Klitschko claimed the spectacle would be ever important to "boost the morale" of his countrymen.
Former world heavyweight champion
Shannon Briggs
Shannon Briggs (born December 4, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion, having held the lineal heavyweight championship from 1997 to 1998, and the WBO title from 2006 to 2007. Briggs is known for ...
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"](_blank)
''BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
''. BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. 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.
. 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
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.
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).
charge after attacking two bouncers.
. Leapai's inspiration is fellow Samoan heavyweight boxer
.