Daniel Geale copped a headbutt from rival fighter Garth Wood at a fractious weigh in

ONCE again Daniel Geale has found himself in the unwitting role of stooge.

Daniel Geale and Garth Wood face off during the official weigh in.

ONCE again Daniel Geale has found himself in the unwitting role of stooge.

Geale walked into a bear trap on Tuesday and, for all appearances, came out the worst for it.

It happened started shortly after Geale failed to make weight inside the top bar at PJ Gallagher’s, a bar across from tonight’s fight venue, the Hordern Pavilion.

Garth Wood had just made weight, 72.15kg, and then went on to his second job for the day.

Wood is one of boxing’s great manipulators. He got inside Anthony Mundine’s head before their first fight and got Mundine off the bit from the start, eventually knocking him out.

News_Rich_Media: Accusations of dirty tactics highlighted a tense press conference, ahead of Wednesday night's fight between Daniel Geale and Garth Wood.

He won upsets against Victor Oganov and Kariz Kariuki, both top 10-rated fighters, when basically still a novice.

Unorthodox mind games in the lead-up to both fights had Oganov and Kariuki dying at the end of a needle point. Yesterday, he began spinning the web for Geale.

Geale stepped on the scales and weighed in just over.

At 72.60kg, a good spit in a cup would have brought him under the 72.55kg limit.

Unfortunately, he was so dry he couldn’t muster even that.

“We weren’t sure about the scales back at the gym,” promoter Billy Treacy said.

“We thought they might have been a little out but we didn’t know until we got here.”

Geale bent over and put his clothes on, then stood facing Garth nose to nose.

Bright television lights lit them up and the noise swirled around, cameras popping, and Wood started whispering.

“This is my house,” he said, loud enough only for Geale.

“I’m going to do whatever I want to you,” he continued in a dialogue that was going all one way.

Geale said nothing. He never does. He has fought all around the world against all sorts of opponents who wished him all sorts of harm.

News_Image_File: Daniel Geale and Garth Wood get up close and personal.

There is nothing he hasn’t heard and, as far as he is concerned, not one of those words have hurt him.

Then Wood jerked forward, a small headbutt that drew a quick reaction from all around.

Mostly, though, from Geale. He pushed Wood away as officials dived between them. Wood was dragged out backwards, and for a brief moment it could have got nasty.

Not everybody is willing to back down in situations like this, particularly such a crowd.

As Wood was led away he was content he had done exactly what he needed to make the normally placid Geale reconsider his game plan.

“I only reacted when he headbutted me,” Geale said. “He was probably trying to cut me, like I know he’ll do tomorrow.”

He has no doubts Wood is a dirty fighter, and will try for whatever advantage possible tonight. Still, with all that swirling, Geale went for a walk. He still had 50 grams to lose.

“I expected it,” he said. “I knew he was going to try something, a sneaky little headbutt. It’s the lack of respect he has shown me since the start, talking crap. I expected that. I expected all that.”

He was sitting in a chair, sipping water.

“It didn’t even raise the heartrate,” he said.