Even as the Gold Coast Titans hunt to replace their skipper and star forward, Alex Leapai Junior has declared he harbours no regrets over his decision to abandon his NRL dreams.

The 120-kilogram pugilist shocked his club when he announced he would be walking away from his three-year deal on the Glitter Strip to follow in his father’s footsteps in the boxing ring.

While the Titans’ middle forwards were lauded as one of the game’s most fearsome at the start of the campaign, limiting the 18-year-old’s immediate path, the loss of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui to a season-ending ACL injury has decimated coach Des Hasler’s men in a winless launch to 2024.

Hasler could be forced to blood young talent, with his side scoring just four points this year.

But ahead of his looming professional boxing debut in Adelaide, where he will take on Joe Ageli on April 3, Leapai Junior told this masthead that while he was confident he could have earned an NRL call-up in the near future, he never second-guessed his decision.

“It’s a big loss for the Titans with how they lost Tino, and if I was still there and the love and enjoyment was still there, I reckon I would have still been around,” Leapai Junior said.

“But the Titans have more than enough in the upcoming props. They’ve got Josiah Pahulu as the up-and-coming one who’s been there since their junior systems.

“Right now, I’m mostly focusing on the boxing and I haven’t touched base with the footy stuff.

“There was no enjoyment in the footy game any more, and no love to go into training. I was mostly there just to get the game finished, and my heart wasn’t there.

“When I went back into the boxing ring, I felt more comfortable. Since then, I haven’t turned my head back.”

Leapai Junior has embodied a different persona since revealing his defection.

At this stage, there is no anxiety – “I’ll save the nerves for the day”.

Quietly spoken, but steadfast in his decision, the teenager has spent his training camp sparring with the likes of WBC Australasia heavyweight champion Joseph Goodall and fellow NRL convert Tevita Pangai Junior.

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He will even link up with world boxing star Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia in preparation for “seven or eight fights” in the next year.

Pangai Junior, who on Saturday night triumphed over Raphael Sa’u, sees some parallels between himself and the youngster, but revealed it was he who had been taken under Leapai Junior’s wing.

And he believes there is a developing power in the former prop that could take the world by storm.

“He’s been in the game since he’s come out of the womb,” Pangai Junior said.

“I’ve copped a lot of his bombs, I try and take it as best as I can, but once he gets that man-strength, I think he’ll kick on.

“It was a good decision by him, making it younger. I wish I did that as well. I didn’t have my first fight until I was 25, and I think the earlier, the better.”

Few fighters boast the family pedigree of Leapai Junior ahead of his maiden bout.

Aside from Tszyu brothers Tim and Nikita, whose father Kostya rose to global glory, others will not be shackled with the same burden of expectation as the Mabel Park State High School product.

Alex Leapai Senior was on the cusp of champion status, losing a world title unification clash with Wladimir Klitschko and finishing his career with 32 wins from 44 bouts

In his corner was his son’s trainer, Noel Thornberry, whose brother Rick held the IBO super middleweight belt and challenged for the WBO and IBF crowns.

As he and his prodigy retreated to Gatton for final preparations, Thornberry declared Leapai Junior had “more potential than any heavyweight in the country”, and would benefit from the path paved for him by his dad.

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“When Alex Senior started out, our first conversation was that he’d like to win the Queensland heavyweight title. I said I reckon [even] I could win that; I reckon you fight for the world title,” Thornberry told this masthead.

“As time went by, he started to realise his potential, and that’s a powerful thing. You realise it, you embrace it, you believe in it and all of a sudden, you achieve it.

“I’ve seen people right from the very start and where they end up. They don’t just get there, there’s a lot of hard work and trials and tribulations on the way, but Alex certainly has the potential, and he has that psychological belief as well.

“He’s a rough diamond that can be cut into a priceless gem. He’s not ready for it [the biggest stages] yet, but he’s ready to prepare for the journey.”