Justis Huni v Paul Gallen: Big fight confirmed as heavyweight champ vows to finish off NRL legend

Paul Gallen has been hit with a massive State of Origin insult as Justis Huni vowed to make the NRL legend ‘give up’ in their much-anticipated June 16 showdown.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos – MAY 5, 2021. Former NRL star come professional boxer Paul Gallen talks to the media before a training session on the Gold Coast in preparations to fight Olympic-bound Justis Huni on June 16. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Justis Huni has vowed to make Paul Gallen give up in the ring after the league legend labelled Australia’s heavyweight champion a quitter.

Gallen and Huni came face-to-face for the first time on Tuesday to officially announce their June 16 bout at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.

And Huni’s promoter Dean Lonergan wasted no time in hyping up the fight, while dismissing the former NRL legend’s chances against a boxer with such an impressive array of skill and speed.

Watch Boxing Live & On-Demand on Kayo. Selected international fights, classic bouts and more. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

It’s on! Paul Gallen v Justis Huni has been confirmed for June 16.

“Paul’s got less chance of winning this fight as he did as captain of State of Origin against Queensland, I think once in eight or nine Origins he won,” he said.

“Paul’s in a whole world of pain. Paul’s been in the entertaining/circus fighting game. Now he’s in the hurt game. And it’s a whole different ball game. Justis is going to inflict a lot of pain and he’s going to find out what it’s like with a real boxer.

“We’re in the boxing business, we’re in the hurting business and it’s at this point Paul will find out that he’s taken a step too far.

“No amount of money is going to take the fear out of his stomach walking to the ring when he sees this beast beside me.

“Paul’s doesn’t need this money but he wants this money and we’re going to give it to him. But he’s just got to get belted for it.

“This is now boxing vs rugby league and we need Justis to step up and knock him out.”

Gallen played mind games at the press conference by suggesting Huni had been too scared to fight in the final of the Elite Men’s World Championship in Russia two years ago.

“I research my opponents, I know what they’ve done … I know about Justis’ pedigree in the amateurs, and Justis has quit,” Gallen said.

“He’s been in the finals and not fought in the final, he’s walked off. And once you quit in life, it’s in you, it’s always in you somewhere.

“And at some stage on this night, I’m going to make him quit.”

Huni, 22, rejected that notion.

“He’s bringing up something that happened in 2019, it didn’t bother me, I was actually really sick,” Huni said.

“I was in a really bad state, I was vomiting, I lost 10.5kg in the one-and-a-half weeks I was over there, I was bad, in bed vomiting, got back here and I could barely walk off the plane, I had to go straight to hospital.

“There was no way I was going to go into that final the way I was. I’ve come back and won other tournaments and other fights.”

And I’m still here, I’m going to represent my country at the Olympics, so I’m not too worried.

“If anything, I’m going to make him give up.”

Justis Huni claims he was sick in Russia back in 2019 and didn’t quit on his fights.

Gallen (11-0-1, 6KO) is adamant Huni is nervous about their showdown after observing him at the press conference at Sydney’s International Convention Centre, where the fight will be held.

“I could tell weeks ago, and that’s going to be an advantage to me getting in that ring on the night,” Gallen said.

“Once he gets into that ring that’s his domain, so maybe the fears and the hype will go out the window and he’ll be fine, but I’ve had people and the media trying to bring me down for 20 years at times when I’ve done the wrong thing or things have gone wrong.

“And I’ve had to deal with it, and turn up on the weekend and play footy, or whatever I had to do, I’ve learned to deal with it and that’s something he’s never had to do before, so we’ll see how he handles it.

“I just know he was in a tournament and had to face a Russian and an Uzebikstani the other time, and both times he did what’s called a walk-off and didn’t face them, and they were finals.

“If I’m playing 20 weeks of rugby league and there’s a grand final, I’m playing - I went out there with shingles (in the 2016 NRL decider). I’m walking out on that field and having a crack.

“He knows whether he was sick or not. And that’s the thing, no else knows, his dad won’t know, you’re the only person that knows in your own head whether you could’ve had a crack or not, you can’t lie to yourself.

“You can lie to everyone else but you can’t lie to yourself, and once it’s there, it can pop back up in hard moments and that’s what I’m going to be looking for on the 16th.”

Paul Gallen is determined to get the psychological advantage for the big fight.

Huni, who defends his Australian heavyweight title against Christian Tsoye at the ICC on Wednesday week (May 26) before the showdown with Gallen, has promised to make a big statement before he heads to Tokyo in late July in his quest for a gold medal.

“I’m here, I’m healthy, I’m happy, and I’m dangerous,” said Huni (3-0, 3KO).

“I’m very sharp at the moment. I’m not going to look for the knockouts but I know they’re going to come.

“I’m going to break my opponents down, Christian Tsoye and then Gallen.”

‘A sparring session’: Gal outrage over bold Huni call

Paul Gallen has declared he’ll be happy to forego a $1 million payday to watch rival Justis Huni get knocked out next week.

A frustrated Gallen had tried to get Huni’s fight against No. 7 ranked Christian Tsoye — scheduled for May 26 at Sydney’s International Convention Centre — cancelled because he’s due to face Huni for the Australian heavyweight title three weeks later at the same venue.

If Huni gets injured or beaten in the bout against Tsoye, it virtually kills the million-dollar showdown with Gallen, which has left the rugby league legend confused and angry.

Paul Gallen trains on the Gold Coast in preparation to fight Olympic-bound Justis Huni.

But after unsuccessfully trying to scrap the Huni-Tsoye bout with Huni’s promoter Dean Lonergan, Gallen is now happy to have his seven-figure contract destroyed in order to see Huni lose his first professional bout.

“I’ll piss myself laughing if Christian Tsoye knocks him out, I’ll laugh my head off,” Gallen told News Corp.

“And I’ve said that to Lonergan and he says ‘Well you won’t get paid’. He needs to realise I’m OK, I’m not scrounging dollars together.

“I hope he gets knocked out. I’d piss myself if he misses his Olympic dream, it would serve him right.

“Yes, it would be nice to earn that big pay packet, but Lonergan forgets I’ve played professional sport for 20 years, I’m all right.”

Gallen (11-0-1, 6KO) and Huni (3-0, 3KO) will come face-to-face on Tuesday at the ICC to formally announce their bout for June 16, however Gallen is furious with Lonergan over a refusal to cover his training costs if Huni cannot back up after the Tsoye fight.

The former NRL star says he is happy to have his seven-figure contract ripped up in order to see Huni lose his first professional bout.

“I’ve been more than fair to Lonergan, I haven’t even asked for compensation to be paid anything stupid like the $100,000 he got to allow Lucas Browne to fight me,” Gallen said.

“All I asked for was to be paid back any costs I’ve incurred for travel because at the end of the day I’ve got four weeks of sparring to prepare for Justis Huni.

“Now to prepare for Browne and Hunt, I had six different blokes come in for one round each so they were fresh. Now this bloke (Huni) is a totally different kettle of fish, he’s fast, he’s a boxer.

“So we’ve had to get Teremoana Junior down from Brisbane, we had to go to Melbourne to spar Jason Whateley, go up to Brisbane for ‘Django’ (Faiga Opelu), this all costs.

“That’s all I’m asking for, can you just cover my costs if he gets hurt? And he said ‘No’, he won’t cover my costs.”

Lonergan said there would be no insurance to cover Gallen’s training costs “because this is boxing, you can get hurt in sparring”.

Huni has a busy calendar of fights coming up.

Gallen said Lonergan reassured him the Tsoye fight would be akin to a sparring session for Huni, which only further infuriated the NRL legend.

“People in boxing seem to accept this, they’re looking at this like it’s a sparring session for him, so what’s he having the fight for?” Gallen said.

“Because he’s from a boxing background, it’s OK for him. Can you imagine if that was me, and my trainer said ‘It will be like a sparring session for him’. The ridicule I’d cop from people in boxing and you guys in the media would be relentless.

“Imagine I faced an opponent like Justis faced [Jack Maris] on the Gold Coast, it’s glass houses, because he comes from boxing it seems to be OK.

“It’s like me against Mark Hunt and Lucas Browne — they were going to kill me. But because I beat them, suddenly they were sh--, they were done. It’s whatever suits people in boxing.

“Lonergan wants to boost Huni’s profile, but he’s going to fight in front of 40 people.”