{"id":85884,"date":"2021-06-16T02:57:05","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T02:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=85884"},"modified":"2021-06-16T04:02:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T04:02:31","slug":"gallen-slams-approach-for-fake-fight-ruse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=85884","title":{"rendered":"Gallen slams approach for fake fight ruse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Gallen<\/a> says Justis Huni's camp tried to "make a fool of him" by concocting a walk-out controversy for Wednesday night's fight.<\/p>\n

Gallen (11-0-1, 6 KOs) will fight Huni (4-0, 3 KOs) at Sydney's International Convention Centre.<\/p>\n

The unbeaten NRL great says that he was asked by Huni's promoter, Dean Lonergan, to cause a stir by demanding to walk out second; despite being the challenger for his opponent's Australian heavyweight title. Gallen never had any intention of walking out second and said no to the well-worn ruse.<\/p>\n

"They've called me a donkey and a pig, they're the ones carrying on the way they're carrying on," Gallen told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"They even wanted to try and make an issue about who would walk out first. They wanted me to say I wanted to walk out second.<\/p>\n

"I respect the sport of boxing, the champion always walks out second, I said that from the start. They carried on about that. I said, 'Mate, he can walk out second, you think I care? He's got the belt, that's what boxing's about'. They wanted to make a fool of me about that, too."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gallen has largely been trading insults with Lonergan rather than Huni in the fight build-up, given the young heavyweight phenom's media inexperience.<\/p>\n

The NRL legend finally cracked at Monday's pre-fight press conference<\/a>, when he told Huni that he was intent on ruining his looming Olympics campaign by breaking his jaw, face or arm; "That dream, since you've been seven years old, is gonna be f–ked."<\/p>\n

Gallen stands to make an 85 per cent purse cut for their fight. His total pay day will reportedly top $1 million, by far his biggest windfall in boxing.<\/p>\n

He has been promoting the fight hard and was therefore filthy when Huni missed a prime promotional opportunity<\/a> before the opening State of Origin match, preferring instead to spar.<\/p>\n

He's been bemused throughout at the way in which Huni has distanced himself from most of the promotional work, instead letting Lonergan and his father\/trainer, Rocki Huni, fire potshots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There's been insults, date changes, attempted venue switches, plus a controversy over which gloves would be used. Gallen was quickly fed up.<\/p>\n

"He's pretty quiet and they do whatever they want to do," Gallen said.<\/p>\n

"People may talk about the percentage that I'm getting but I deserve 99.9 per cent of it because he's done nothing. Whatever I get for this fight isn't enough.<\/p>\n

"They call him a kid – look, he's not a kid, mate. He's 22 years old. We've got to stop kidding ourselves here and start making this bloke be a bit accountable for some of the actions around him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"He's palming it off to everyone else. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's the one getting in a fight, he's the one punching people, he's the one getting punched.<\/p>\n

"There's going to come a time when all of this is going to backfire on him because he's not being a man and he's not owning up to what's happening around him.<\/p>\n

"His dad's calling me a donkey and a pig, Lonergan's carrying on like a pork chop. All these people around him are carrying on but when all these things turn to s–t, when someone catches up with him and beats him – which is what's going to happen Wednesday night – we'll see who's around him them. I'm sure his dad will be, he's not going to leave him, but it all adds fuel to the fire.<\/p>\n

"He's the one that's got to cop that fire, he's the one that's going to be in there copping it, not these other people. He's got to start taking a bit more responsibility for what's going on around him, what's said around him, because people around him can say it but it reflects on him."<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Gallen enters the fight as a massive underdog but that's been the case in his past two fights, against UFC legend Mark Hunt and former WBA world title holder Lucas Browne. He beat both men, dropping Browne in a first-round TKO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gallen has earned the back-handed compliment of being a decent fighter, rather than an actual boxer, but reckons that style serves him just fine.<\/p>\n

"Lucas Browne was trying to call himself a boxer. That was laughable, I reckon I'm a better boxer than him," Gallen said.<\/p>\n

"At the end of the day, that's what this fight has got to be for me. This guy is a genuine boxer, he's flashy and a nice-looking boxer.<\/p>\n

"Styles make fights and I've got to brawl the boxer. Boxers can out-box boxers, yeah; but compared the this guy, I'm not as good a boxer. He's got all the skills he's got all the speed.<\/p>\n

"I'm realistic in my abilities and what I have. I don't have that but I have a heart and a motor that's going to go longer than his. That's where I've got to get in and brawl him, just rough him up and fight him. That's the way it's got to be."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gallen is predicting a late stoppage victory over Huni, rated a potential heavyweight world champion. Their Australian title fight will run 10 rounds.<\/p>\n

"I've got to finish him late, get to rounds seven and eight and knock him out then," Gallen said.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Gallen says Justis Huni's camp tried to "make a fool of him" by concocting a walk-out controversy for Wednesday night's fight. Gallen (11-0-1, 6 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85884"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85886,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85884\/revisions\/85886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}