Canterbury prop Tevita Pangai Jr has determined to finish his rugby league profession on the finish of the season to take up boxing.
The 27-year-old, contracted for 2024 on an estimated $750,000-a-year contract, has knowledgeable the Bulldogs of his want to give attention to household and combating.
The Tongan worldwide will play out the rest of the season earlier than swapping his boots for gloves.
Pangai has twice fought professionally and holds a 2-0 document, first defeating Gerico Cecil by technical knockout in December 2021 after which knocking out Jerry Tupai final December.
“We want to thank Tevita for his contribution to the membership,” stated Bulldogs soccer boss Phil Gould.
“We’re nicely conscious of his expertise as an athlete and are absolutely supportive of his resolution to pursue one other sport on the season’s finish.
“We want him and his household all the most effective for the longer term.”
The rugby league retirement continues a whirlwind yr for Pangai, who was chosen to make a shock New South Wales debut within the State of Origin sequence opener.
He was dropped for the second sport of the sequence and has since struggled for constant kind with the Fifteenth-placed Bulldogs.
At his greatest, Pangai was probably the most damaging forwards within the sport.
Pangai burst onto the scene with Brisbane in 2016 after a adorned profession within the U20s with Canberra.
Following a mid-season change to Penrith, he was pivotal of their cost to the 2021 grand last, a victory he finally missed by means of damage.
Pangai’s exit will free the Bulldogs to go to the market as they proceed their rebuild underneath coach Cameron Ciraldo.
Canterbury’s different marquee front-rower Luke Thompson is off-contract at season’s finish, with the Bulldogs in determined want of starch in the course of the park.
AAP
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