Ben Barba ‘is considering a move to boxing’ after losing his $300,000 contract with the NRL and taking up a $20-an-hour job as a metal worker
- Former NRL star Ben Barba is eyeing a possible move into professional boxing
- Barba was banned from the sport after multiple domestic violence allegations
- His $300,000 North Queensland contract was torn up after January altercation
Former NRL star Ben Barba is reportedly considering a move to boxing after losing his $300,000-a-year contract and taking up a job as a metal worker.
The 29-year-old’s contract was torn up and he was banned from the game after an alleged physical altercation with his partner at a Townsville casino in January.
Barba, who has four daughters with partner Ainslie Currie, is now working for $20-an-hour at Statewide Sales and Service, a local business in his hometown of Mackay.
But according to The Daily Telegraph, boxing promoter Matty Rose has approached Barba about the prospect of boxing professionally.
Former NRL star Ben Barba (pictured) is considering a move into boxing since he was banned from playing rugby league in Australia
Mr Rose has reportedly offered Barba a chance to fight in the undercard for the upcoming Tim Tszyu and Brock Jarvis’s May 15 fight night at The Star casino.
If Barba chooses to take on the fight he could stand to earn $20,000.
‘He’s done the wrong thing but you can’t just abandon him, he needs something else in his life and he has a young family to support,’ Mr Rose told the publication.
‘Boxing would give him some direction, some discipline and something to aim for. We’ve spoken about the May 15 date and he’s thinking about it.’
Rose said he hopes to get an answer from Barba some time next week.
Barba was originally set to line up for the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2019 NRL season before the alleged incidents on Australia Day derailed his career (pictured with partner Ainslie Currie)
Just a few weeks before the incident that ended his career, Barba posted a photo to Instagram of himself working out at a local Mackay oval surrounded by his children – Bobbi, Bodhi, Bronte and Blaise.
With a history of controversy and trouble, Barba was given the one-year deal by the Cowboys after a stellar season at St Helens in the English Super League last year.
He had been forced to play overseas after a series of controversies in Australia, including allegations of domestic violence with Ms Currie in 2013 – when he was the face of the game – and being caught with cocaine after winning the premiership with Cronulla in 2016.
Barba’s incredible return to form in 2018 saw him win the Man of Steel for best player in the English Super League – making him only the second man to have both the Dally M and Man of Steel awards on his mantelpiece.
His impressive on-field performances, combined with a reportedly improved off-field attitude, saw Barba offered a single season deal by the Cowboys.
But his contract with the NRL side was promptly torn up in February after his alleged attack of Ms Currie was revealed.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said after the incident that the decision was particularly hard as it mean Barba, the main bread winner in his family, was losing his livelihood.
‘His registration with the game is no longer and I can’t see a time, at any time, in the future that he’ll be welcomed back,’ Mr Greenberg said.
‘I’m not going to call for (a worldwide ban) but what I am going to say is that in the jurisdiction that I uphold, there’s no place for him.
‘This is a guy that now loses his livelihood and career in the game. It’s a very clear message for a lot of players in our sport that it is a great privilege to play rugby league.’
Since losing his place in the game Barba has been working in a Mackay metal workshop earning $20-an-hour, a far cry from the $300,000 a year contract he lost