Joe Tapine backs Canberra Raiders to follow Josh Papalii into boxing

Tapine was on hand to watch his Canberra Raiders teammate Papalii's foray into the squared circle at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre on Friday night.

But as for whether he would consider getting in the ring himself after watching Papalii go toe to toe with two-time NRL premiership winner Ben Hannant in the main event of the All Stars Footy Rivals card?

"I would have to convince the wife, she doesn't like me getting into boxing," Tapine laughed - but rest assured the Raiders squad have already talked about who could give it a crack.

"I'd have to do some training. Big Jackie Wighton would be a good fighter, he can throw them. I don't know who you would pair him up against because he's pretty handy with it.

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"I think Curtis Scott is pretty good, so we've got a couple there back at Raiders who would give it a crack I reckon."

Promoters Dean Lonergan and Nick Livermore have already begun discussing the prospect of hosting another event of such calibre next year.

Papalii and Junior Paulo were the only current NRL players among the 12 fighters on the card. Both tipped the scales at 117.9 and 116.7 respectively, and promoters are confident other clubs will be keen to let their big forwards have a crack in the ring given the shape the two hulking props will return to clubland in.

"He looks fit as. Both of us are out of fat club, it's the first time we're not in fat club this year. That's been good. You can tell he has been taking the training pretty seriously," Tapine said of Papalii.

The loss of Justis Huni robbed the card of a legitimate professional bout after the unbeaten ANBF Australian heavyweight champion was ruled out with a concussion.

Yet it did little to quell the interest in the card. Officials tipped a strong walk-up would bring them to the cusp of a full house with less than 800 tickets available as of Friday morning.

Any one of the fighters could have flicked on the television throughout their stay in Townsville to see moments from yesteryear that ultimately helped to carve their legacies.

There was Matty Bowen cutting South Sydney to pieces, Craig Gower causing the Northern Eagles headaches stronger than those the punters frequenting the hotel casino woke up with every morning, and Sandor Earl scoring a hat-trick for Canberra as they put Newcastle to the sword.

And of course there was vision of Papalii sending Rabbitohs defenders reeling as he charged over the line to send the Raiders to their first grand final in 25 years.

It was billed as a State of Origin-style card yet it was more a night for some of rugby league's great characters to test themselves and enjoy a moment in the limelight.

For many it will likely be one and done. For Papalii, there has been interest in Canberra to have the Raiders giant on Capital Fight Show cards in the hope of building him up for an Australian title shot.

For now that strap belongs to Olympic Games prospect Huni, who was still on hand in Townsville alongside cruiserweight world title hopeful Jai Opetaia to watch footballers trade passes for punches.