Paul Gallen has shown the mistake which altered his life, and it has helped inspire him to make a name for himself as a boxer.
It is the childhood injury that Paul Gallen will not talk about, however, has given him all the confidence he can defeat Justis Huni for the Australian heavyweight boxing title.
In 2014, Gallen was fined $50,000 from the NRL and made to undergo a pioneer’s accountability course before he had been allowed to represent that the Kangaroos again.
This was after he had made offensive remarks on Twitter concerning the departure of Cronulla chief executive Steve Noyce and the NRL’s handling of the Sharks’ ASADA-imposed doping sanctions, he served 12 weeks.
“I remember some of the things I learnt about myself throughout my youth. I learnt a fair bit about myself then, and why I am like I am.
“It is not something I want to enter, this isn’t the stage. However, I know why I am like I am. And a lot of it comes down to my upbringing and what I needed to undergo.
“I only want to be prosperous.”
It’s this intrinsic understanding of how he’s wired, the way he was able to perform 19 seasons in the NRL, win a premiership, captain NSW to a State of Origin series victory, switch to boxing to beat Mark Hunt and then knock out former world champion Lucas Browne, that has enabled Gallen to needle Huni mercilessly.
The 22-year-old Australian heavyweight champion may know his boxing game inside out, but is still learning about himself as a guy.
And this is exactly what 39-year-old Gallen has seized upon in an effort to acquire the psychological edge, where emotionally he’s outgunned by a younger, quicker foe.
“I am up to now in his head it isn’t funny,” Gallen said.
“He says I am not, but I know I’m. That is the question which remains to be answered, isn’t it? He can`t manage the pressure at the moment. Whether he can manage the ring or not remains to be seen. But there’s little doubt about it. He is really struggling with all the pressure from the build-up to this.
“I can just see his actions and his entire body, facial expressions, only the way he speaks.”
Gallen said it was”disgraceful” and”selfish” which Huni had snubbed an appearance on Fox Sports’ NRL 360 show on Monday night.
“He can not handle stress, can’t handle the anticipation, so I’m likely to apply pressure to him at the struggle and expose him” Gallen said.
“I told you in the start, he is an incredible fighter, skilful, fast. He’s got everything.
“In the past, he has been in no-show.
“I have discovered a tiny chink, he does not enjoy the pressure and I’ve got to try and expose it.”
Huni responded:”If he says all that stuff and then can not back it up, he’s a fraud.”
In terms of his absence from NRL 360, Huni said:”It was not told me firmly, we did make dinner plans, I had family come so I wasn’t going to cancel this, lots of them went a very long way to be here.
“[Gallen] can say what he wants, I’d plans and that’s that. If he’s got a problem with it, he can sort it out [on Wednesday] night.
“In this fight I’ll show my boxing abilities, and that I don’t believe Gal will stand a opportunity.”
