Church, black eyes and bruises: Canberra Raiders star Josh Papalii's boxing introduction

"I was growing up watching him train and watching him put his body on the line for many years. I was seeing him come to church with black eyes and bruises. His old man used to box as well, many of my uncles used to box," Papalii said of the former world title challenger.

It was a confronting yet stirring introduction to the sweet science. Rugby league won out for a man who will go down as a Canberra Raiders great, yet the lure of boxing remained.

Which perhaps explains why Papalii, brother John and their cousins used to put on a pair of boxing gloves and throw hands in the backyard for the entertainment of the family.

This was long before Papalii crossed paths with Ben Hannant on a football field, the man he will meet again in the main event of the All Stars Footy Rivals card at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre on Friday night.

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"They were probably my only spars, bro. Just scraps in the backyard," Papalii grinned.

"Alex used to run that, he used to make us run straight, and if not, we'd start punching on and we'd all get a hiding at the end."

If there can be such a thing, Papalii is a gentle brawler. His locker at Canberra Stadium is filled with pictures of kids who inspire him to be better. Like Ayden, the super fan who has been cheering Papalii for nine years. Like Bella, the avid Raiders fan who showed her heroes a game of football is just that before she passed away in April 2019.

Or like Kali Giteau, who was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer in 2019. Papalii's appearance fee from Friday's bout will be donated to the Win the Day cancer charity, founded by Kali's mother Kristy Giteau.

"We've been blown away by how much support we've received for Win the Day, and Josh has been just amazing as a Win the Day ambassador," Giteau said.

"His kindness will mean that families like ours can spend more time supporting their child rather than worrying about finding the money for meals and accommodation during treatment. Taking that pressure off is so important when families are already dealing with so much."

Papalii's family were on hand at Thursday's weigh-in to see the NRL's premier prop tip the scales at 117.9 kilograms, well clear of Hannant at 102.8.

While most of the rugby league stars turned boxers on the card say they're looking forward to six minutes of action and plenty of beers after the final bell, Papalii will have little time to rest.

Because come Monday he will be back under the watchful eye of coach Ricky Stuart at Raiders headquarters.

"I couldn't be happier with Papa, his coach and our high performance team have been communicating so we don't burn Papa out. We're mindful of his loads and he's very fit," Stuart said.

"He can box as much as he wants while ever he's staying at 118, 119 kilograms for me. That's his best playing weight and Josh knows that. He's tremendously fit and he'll be back on board and ready to go on Monday.

"He's at his playing weight and if anything he's probably lost a little bit of muscle. Once he finishes the extra work with the muscle, he'll jump back into getting that little bit of extra muscle back on.

"It's just the loads he's had with a little bit more running and the boxing itself with the sparring et cetera has helped him maintain his weight."

Hannant enters as the underdog looking to spring a surprise, with the two-time premiership winner joking a glance at a family photo will show you he has had eight surprises in his life already.

How the market would have fared had Nelson Asofa-Solomona not been forced to pull out remains to be seen. He was set to face Papalii before Melbourne called him back to training after his weight blew out.

Then there were talks about Papalii facing former Raiders teammate Junior Paulo, with the only other active NRL player on the card set to fight Neville Costigan. That proved little more than a pipe dream.

"I've just been catching up with Junior for the past couple of days, we spent all of Tuesday together, just catching up on old times," Papalii said.

"We're really good mates, which obviously explains why we didn't fight each other. It's starting to sink in now, I'm pretty excited to be honest. I'm just glad to be a part of the event and I'm looking forward to it.

"It's all hitting me now. I was telling my mate it's all starting to sink in, it's becoming a reality. I'm just excited. Hopefully there are a few more fights down the track."

Stuart joked Papalii needn't bother coming back to Canberra if he doesn't have his arm raised on Friday night. So does the mentor think his star prop can win?

"I do. I actually spoke to Benny Hannant a week and a half ago on radio and let Benny know that too," Stuart said.

ALL STARS FOOTY RIVALS

Friday: All Stars Footy Rivals: Josh Papalii v Ben Hannant at Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre, 7pm AEDT. TV: Live on Main Event.

Fight card:

Todd Carney (90.65kg) v Scott Prince (81.65kg)

Craig Gower (97.4kg) v Matt Bowen (88.1kg)

Sandor Earl (97.7kg) v Justin Hodges (102.3kg)

Willie Mason (116.6kg) v Sam Thaiday (122kg)

Junior Paulo (116.7kg) v Neville Costigan (102.6kg)

Josh Papalii (117.9kg) v Ben Hannant (102.8kg)