Paul Gallen has been defeated by Justis Huni in an explosive bout with the Aussie heavyweight king.
Huni left Gallen looking to retreat early in the piece with a series of shots that came over the top of Gallen’s guard.
Gallen was forced onto the ropes, but was able to get back into the fight when Huni dropped his pace. Huni’s series of shots left Gallen “hurting”, according to Aussie legend Jeff Fenech.
“Gallen is in trouble,” Main Event commentator Ben Dammon said barely a minute into the contest.
Huni landed more telling shots in the second, comfortably breaching Gallen’s defence while keeping the former NRL star at arms length. Both fighters were able to land punishing body shots when trading blows in close, but the weight was firmly in Huni’s corner as Gallen slumped to his stool at the completion of each round.
Gallen was forced to eat his words after declaring he would “ruin Huni’s Olympic dream” in the lead-up to the fight.
The 39-year-old gave a pained nod when the referee approached him in the break of the second, asking him if he was ok to continue.
“I want to win. I’m as competitive person there is. I just wanted to finish the fight,” Gallen said after the ref called time on his punishment in the final round. “He knocked me down fair and square … I think he broke my rib in the second round.”
The former Sharks star said his trash talk was only to hype up the fight, praising the rising heavyweight and wishing him well in Japan.
“While he knocked me down, I think the ref stopped it early,” he said. “Huni was too fast and he punched a lot harder than I expected. He was just too good, I wish him the best at the Olympics and I hope he can win a gold medal for Australia.
“All the chat before, it was just chat.”
Gallen said he’s not against fighting the 22-year-old again after his trip to Tokyo.
Reports emerged revealing Gallen negotiated for an 85 per cent stake in the total fight purse, and The Courier-Mail reported Wednesday evening the 39-year-old NRL legend had almost got his way. The report reveals Gallen will take home at least $1.1 million — and his purse could exceed $1.5 million if the pay per view sales exceed expectations.
Huni also walks away with at least $300,000 — by far the biggest payday of his career.
The 22-year-old heavyweight champion-prospect was last month reportedly set to take home around $225,000, but the latest updates are very good news for his hip pocket.
Huni thanked Gallen for the contest and gave a sneak peek into his future after the Olympics, pledging he’d change up his style to suit the professional circuit to compete against the biggest boys in the division.
“Big shoutout to Gal, an awesome competitor. Very tough and very strong,” he said. “He’s definitely built different.”
Huni admitted Gallen’s headline-grabbing insults in the lead-up to the Sydney clash made it “tricky” for him to prepare.
“The buildup was good, he definitely made it tricky with his words, but we don’t let that get to us,” he said. “We come here and we do what we need to do. I’ll hopefully make you all proud at the Olympics and bring home the gold medal.”
Round by round updates
Round 1 — Justis Huni leaves Paul Gallen looking to retreat with a series of shots that came over the top of Gallen’s guard. Gallen was force onto the ropes, but was able to get back into the fight when Huni dropped his pace. Huni’s series of shots left Gallen “hurting”, according to Aussie legend Jeff Fenech. Main Event commentator Ben Dammon said: “Gallen is in trouble”.
Round 2 — Both fighters land punishing body shots when trading blows in close. I quieter round, but Huni lands the more telling shots. Huni has been able to comfortably land shots while keeping Gallen at arms length.
Round 3 — After a slow start to the round dominated by Huni landing body shots, Gallen comes within a shot of collapsing. Huni leaves Gallen stumbling on his feet, when he finally starts landing his right hand combinations. Sensing Gallen’s fatigue and grogginess, Huni presses his attack with 30 seconds left in the round and Gallen is only able to defend on the ropes. Huni’s best shots came with Gallen ducking into his mid-section. Mani Event’s Ben Damon says: “This fight is getting away from Paul Gallen”.
Round 4 — Gallen’s right hand sneaks through for a good shot across Huni’s chin. Huni is dominating without looking for the punch to stop the fight. After watching Huni picking Gallen apart, Aussie legend Jeff Fenech says: “I can’t believe he isn’t trying to throw more”.
Round 5 — Huni stays in his comfort zone by keeping his powerful right hand in his bag. Gallen actually lands a couple of good shots. Huni fights back with a good combination with 15 seconds left in the round. Huni has won every round.
Round 6 — Justis Huni’s body shot barrage begins to pay off for him with Gallen wincing and dropping his guard. In Huni’s best round so far, Gallen stumbles back onto the ropes but keeps his feet after Huni lands a heavy right hand. Gallen looks out on his feet heading into Round 7.
Round 7 — Blood is beginning to show on Gallen’s face. The round is stopped for a second time as a result of the strapping on Huni’s glove falling loose. Huni continues to win the exchanges, but still isn’t looking for the killer blow.
Round 8 — Huni lands his best inside combination of the fight with a flurry of uppercut shots. Gallen continues to press the fight to try and get inside Huni’s reach. Huni is still happy to pick his shots and is letting Gallen survive into the championship rounds.
Round 9 — Justis Huni comes hard to to end Gallen in the final 30 seconds of the round. However, the incredibly tough NRL legend continues to show incredible toughness. Huni has won every fight and looks fresh, while Gallen’s face and torso are an ugly, blotchy red.
Round 10 — The fight is stopped mid-way through the round after Huni dropped Gallen twice in the space of one minute. Gallen fell forward out of exhaustion before being dropped colled with a Huni fight that took his legs out from him. Huni wins via TKO.
Gallen’s tactics switch revealed
Paul Gallen is reported to have shut down the option of fighting with the heavier horse-hair gloves and it has resulted in the two fighters wearing the standard, larger padded gloves.
Main Event’s Paul Kent revealed the thinking behind Gallen’s unusual tactics in the minutes before the fight.
“It’s against the common thinking,” he said.
“Usually the puncher wants the horse hair because you can get more through your punch when you hit somebody. Gallen’s rational for that was that he was going to get more punches off Hui than he is going to throw. So he wanted that extra bit of padding in there knowing that if he kept pushing the pace… he can get on the inside of Huni.
“It’s an interesting strategy from Paul.”
Gallen vs Huni full fight card and results
Paul Gallen (11-0-1, 6 KO), vs Justis Huni (4-0, 3 KO) — 10 rounds
Issac Hardman defeats Emmanuel Carlos, via TKO, Round 4
Andrei Mikhailovic defeats Alex Hanan via TKO, Round 2
Sam Goodman defeats Nort Beauchamp via TKO, Round 6
Jason Whateley defeats Victor Oganov via TKO, Round 4
Aussie legend’s vicious prediction backflip
Aussie boxing icon Jeff Fenech has given a scathing assessment on Paul Gallen’s chances against Justis Huni.
Fenech last month said he would not be surprised if Gallen caused a boil over against Huni after seeing him blast Lucas Browne out of the ring.
However, Fenech changed his tune when speaking on Wednesday night, suggesting Gallen may not win a round in the 10-round fight. He can even see Huni stopping Gallen before the fight goes the distance.
“I find it really hard to think of Paul [Gallen] even winning a round,” he said.
“I don’t think it’ll go the distance.”
‘Insane’ Gallen theory is pure disrespect
The highly-anticipated showdown took a turn on Wednesday morning when an intriguing theory emerged about how little respect Huni is giving his opponent.
Gallen has previously bristled about Huni’s decision to fight Christian Tsoye just three weeks before their battle — but that may be just the tip of the iceberg for how Huni is treating Gallen as a threat.
Main Event’s Ben Damon on Wednesday said there is talk around Australian boxing Huni is not even focused on building the punching power needed to score a stoppage win over Gallen and is instead focused on next month’s Tokyo Olympics where he is one of the favourites to win the gold medal in the super heavyweight class.
Huni has never won via knockout in his 4-0 professional record.
“There’s a theory around the power that maybe when he’s finished his Olympics campaign and he comes back as a full time professional and doesn’t have to worry about the point scoring system used by the Olympics any more and maybe he starts to do what’s called sit down on his punches a little bit more and throw with a little bit more power and use his hips and his body to get the absolute maximum power into his shots and then he might become that bigger puncher,” Damon told Sky Sports Radio.
“There’s a lot of risk. The fact he had a fight three weeks ago is insane.
“And now he’s looking at doing this and then getting on a flight to Tokyo.”
Gallen’s brutal sledge ahead of Huni showdown
Gallen has labelled Australian heavyweight champion Justis Hunt a “coward” ahead of their highly-anticipated pay-per-view bout.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the undefeated former rugby league star blasted Huni and his camp for overlooking the threat he provides.
“They’re No. 1 concern is the Olympics,” Gallen told reporters.
“I’m here to do everything I can to make sure you don’t go to the Olympics. Whether it’s break your jaw, break your face or break your arm, I don’t care what it is. I’m going to do everything I can to break something in you so you don’t go to the Olympics.
“That dream since you’ve been seven years old is going to be f***ed.
“I don’t care what the referee does. I’m going to try and ruin your dream.
“All I do is find that chink in the armour, and I expose it.
“I’m going to do everything I can to finish him. I’m determined to hurt him.”