A fuming Paul Gallen has gone nuclear after Justis Huni's promoter Dean Lonergan claimed the NRL legend asked for $50,000 to switch to Adidas gloves for his upcoming fight with the Australian heavyweight champion.
Huni's camp has threatened to walk from the June 16 bout due to a dispute over sponsorship, with Gallen refusing to give in to demands to wear horsehair Adidas gloves unless he's appropriately compensated.
Gallen has a long-standing relationship with Everlast and is accustomed to wearing their foam-padded Powerlock gloves. But combat sport rules in NSW state both fighters must wear the same brand, style and quality of glove.
According to Rocki Huni, Adidas is willing to pay his son $10,000 to wear their brand on fight night, but said Justis would happily wear Everlast if Gallen's side is unwilling to bend, so long as he covers the cost of the sponsorship.
Gallen is also willing to oblige Huni's request, but suggestions by Lonergan that he had requested $50,000 to switch over (Lonergan claims he later dropped his demand to $20,000) had the NRL great seeing red.
"They offered me $5,000 to change over gloves. I said, 'What's $5,000 going to do for me?'. But I never asked for $50,000, no," Gallen told Wide World of Sports.
"I'm the one bringing the eyeballs here. I'm the one fast-tracking your son's career and making him known by years. So, for that, I'm going to get paid. That's as simple as it is.
"The agreement was we were going to wear Everlast Powerlock gloves, that was always the agreement. Then Dean said, there's been no assurance or anything in the way of gloves, and asked me if I would wear Adidas and they'd give me $5,000.
"I said, no. I wear Everlast, I always have been with Everlast. I'm not going to risk my relationship with them for $5,000. If they want to change gloves, pay me money. Why do you think they want to go with Adidas for? Because I'm with Everlast and Everlast pay me.
"I'm the one bringing the eyes, I'm the one making him relevant. So, if they want to wear their gloves, I'm not against it if they pay me the money that's going to see my end. But $50,000 was not the figure."
Gallen revealed he was worried about pre-fight games when signing the contract, concerned Huni's camp would leverage the media attention his name brings to elevate the profile of the 22-year-old before pulling ahead of the Olympics.
"This is the whole thing I was worried about before this fight," Gallen told Wide World of Sports.
"That they were just going to use this to promote themselves and use me to get his name out there and not fight. That's what I was concerned about. If that happens, it wouldn't surprise me."
Ultimately, Gallen blasted Huni's camp for a lack of foresight, failing to see an opportunity to leverage the situation to their advantage if they played their cards right.
"Pay me to wear the Adidas gloves so Adidas get their brand out there and their exposure," he said.
"Huni then probably picks up a huge Adidas deal for years.
"But they don't think about it like that, they've got no fucking brains."
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.