‘I’m going to f***ing break you.’
Those are the words of new Featherstone Rovers signing Joey Leilua as he heads for the boxing ring to take on new nemesis Chris Heighington on 22 December.
The fight was initially set to be held on 10 December, but Leilua was struck down by COVID-19, as was sparring partner Josh Aloiai whose fight with Paul Gallen was called off – Gallen will now take on former Featherstone forward Darcy Lussick.
29-year-old centre Leilua has been a key figure in the NRL for the past decade or so, but found himself edged out by the Wests Tigers as his contract ran down.
That led Leilua to launch a passionate rant at Wests boss Michael Maguire over the lack of communication in his final few weeks at the club.
But, the Samoan international – who has been capped 15 times by his country – did not have another offer from the prestigious Australian competition.
Instead, Leilua signed a one-year contract with Championship side Featherstone Rovers in a surprise career lifeline, but COVID-19 will not stop the former Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders heavyweight head into the boxing ring later in December, despite the enforcer revealing he was hospitalised with the virus.
And, when Leilua and Heighington met at the weigh-in yesterday, the former could not stop enjoying a bizarre rant at his rival, promising to leave the latter ‘crying to his mummy’.
Leilua said: “To be honest, I don’t give it a s**t about him. I’m going out there to break him … You’ll see him lying on the ground crying to his mummy.”
