Exclusive interview by Matt Clark: Australian Heavyweight Alex “The Lionheart” Leapai is looking to round off an already stellar 2010 with a bang. Whether that involves a fight with Englishmen Dereck Chisora or Sam Sexton or even against Wladimir Klitschko, remains to be seen. Leapai has developed a reputation in Australia for taking on anyone and everyone. He is not a fighter who will price himself out of negotiations, in fact, he is the opposite. He leaves the business side to his manager, Noel Thornberry and focuses on his job at hand.
Leapai, 20-3-3 (16 KO) possesses bone crunching power, particularly in his right hand, which has seen him account for Bob Mirovic, Travis Walker and Owen Beck this year. Alex took the time out to chat with Eastsideboxing.com and keep us up to date with one of the most exciting fighters in the Heavyweight division.
Q. Hi Alex, how are you? Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
A. Hello Matt, my pleasure..
Q. What’s the latest with you? Your last fight was with Owen Beck, which was another exciting fight. What can you tell the readers about that fight?
A. I am just getting over an injury to my right hand which happened during the Owen Beck fight and I’m looking forward to getting back in the ring as soon as possible. The injury happened early in our fight, which I believe spared him a much more violent ending!
Q. There’s plenty of rumours around that you’ve put in a challenge to be Wladimir Klitschko’s opponent on December 11th. Any truth to these rumours?
A. I am ready and available to fight Wladimir, should the opportunity arise on December 11th. I would approach this fight like any other in my career and I believe I would win this fight by way of devastating knock out. Styles make fights and I have a plan to finish Klitschko. I believe that my manager, Noel Thornberry, has made it known to the Klitschko camp that we are ready and available.
Q. There’s also talk that Dereck Chisora is in pole position to land that fight. What do you make of Chisora? You’ve called both him and Sam Sexton out a number of times…
A. Chisora to me is a basic, below average Heavyweight. He has the hype machine of Sports Network making him out to be something he is not. Let’s be honest, he is nothing more than an average novice who would not last four rounds with me. If Klitschko fought Chisora in my backyard, I wouldn’t open the curtains to watch as it’s such a mismatch.
Q. You certainly seem like you’re wanting to land some big fights…
A. I am. You don’t see Chisora or Sexton calling out Travis Walker or even Owen Beck. Noel called the match-maker for Sports Network about a fight for the Commonwealth Title and he did not get a reply after they said they would call him back. This is no accident… They know their fighters aren’t capable of taking me on.
Q. Is there any possibility of a rematch with Travis Walker? Your war with him is probably the best fight the Heavyweight division has seen this year.
A. The Walker fight was not my best performance, but I still won. His trainer carried on, but if you look at the tape, Walker clearly surrendered by motioning the referee when he was under fire against the ropes. Just ask the ref, who advised the media afterwards. We were plagued with a lack of sparring leading into this fight and would have been lucky to spar six hard quality rounds in the lead up. But what do you do, pull out of the fight? I don’t think so, then I would be like all the others.
Q. You’ve had a great 2010, are we going to see you fight once more this year?
A. I would like to fight at least one more time this year, against Klitschko preferably. But if not, I would like to fight twice before the end of the year.
Q. Thanks for talking to Eastsideboxing.com. Is there anything you’d like to add in closing?
A. I would like to thank all my supporters. I promise, as I have said before, my career will be a hell of a lot of fun to watch!