Paul Gallen vs Justis Huni: The Queenslander who helped Blues star fall in love with boxing

Paul Gallen has revealed he was so frightened of being hurt by a former Queensland enforcer he asked for divine intervention. It was a moment which sparked his love of boxing.

Paul Gallen will take on Justis Huni. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Chris Beattie was a big man with fists as heavy as kettlebells.

He liked to swing them too.

A former Sharks, Catalans and Roosters prop, Beattie also played in the Queensland Maroons front-row on three occasions.

In his second Origin appearance, in game two of the 2001 series, Beattie rolled into a tackle on NSW forward Matt Adamson before whacking him with a couple of short rights.

Adamson knew not to take it personally.

By the end of his 121-game career between 2000 and 2007, Beattie would flatten former Dragons forward Wayne Bartim with a single punch, headbutt Broncos legend Gorden Tallis and miss two matches for allegedly biting Eels backrower Daniel Wagon.

Beattie was tough. But he wasn’t entirely mad.

“He headbutt and split Sonny Bill Williams during one game,” former Test prop and Cronulla teammate Jason Stevens remembers.

“I asked him, ‘What did you do that for?’

“Beattie said: ‘I reckon he’s going to be a good player, so I thought I better get a win over him first.’’

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Sharks enforcer Chris Beattie has words with Broncos hardman Gorden Tallis.

Aside from being from the state that Paul Gallen hates, Beattie is the unlikely-as-it-seems, hard-nosed footballer who won’t rate a mention by the ringside commentators when he climbs between the ropes to fight boxing’s young bull Justis Huni, 22, on Wednesday night in Sydney.

Gallen, 39, was once Huni — a young bull too.

Those who were in the room on this day in 2002, including legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis, have never forgotten it.

There are players that were in the room, that now working at other clubs, tell the story with the punchline that back then, if you wanted to survive playing first grade, you first had to get past Beattie.

Gallen has never forgotten this day either. How could he? He says it was the day that he fell for the sport of boxing.

“It was where all this started,” Gallen said as he taps his training gloves.

“I went on and began my first of boxing training in my time off with Johnny from then.”

Paul Gallen the heavyweight contender. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

After seven straight losses during the 2002 season, former Sharks coach Chris “Opes” Anderson felt a “young versus old” divide had begun to splinter the Cronulla team.

In a bid to break down any angst, Opes asked Lewis to oversee a sparring session.

On alternate afternoons, Lewis would arrive at Shark Park, leaving the players sweating, spitting and cursing.

After a month of intense conditioning under Lewis, the sparring session was organised.

Players were paired up to fight in the ring.

The last fight was Gallen versus Beattie. This was no coincidence.

Anderson chose Gallen, in only his second season of first grade, to break down the wall between the “boys” and the “men”.

“I was shitting myself,” Gallen recalls.

“As I climbed through the ropes and into the ring, I walked past Jason Stevens, who is a devout Christian and said, ‘Can you please say a prayer for me’.”

It’s another reason why 20 years later, Stevens has been praying before every one of Gallen’s 12 fights since.

“I knew that as frightened as I was, I couldn’t back away,’’ Gallen said.

“I just kept coming and pummeling him with punches.’’

Ironically, that’s exactly what Gallen will need to do to beat Huni on Wednesday night (Live on Main Event TV).

Justis Huni and Paul Gallen face off ahead of their bout. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Huni spins around the ring like a whipper-snipper cord, spitting out punches with lethal precision.

Slower, but sturdier having never been knocked out during both his NRL or boxing career, this is Gallen’s greatest test in the ring.

The old bull can’t afford to step back and allow the trigger-happy Huni space to punch.

Gallen must keep coming forward.

“You have to know how hard and tough Beattie was, one of the toughest, he had hands like hoofs,” Stevens said.

“But you know what, I knew Gallen would beat him that day.

“I’ll tell you why.

“That season, in that last minute before we were going to run on to the field before a game, I turned to him and said, ‘Gal, I’m telling you, you’re going to be the best player the club has ever seen.’

“Because, he had something that few, if many have. Gorden Tallis is the only other player I’ve seen like this.

“He (Gallen) and Tallis had this innate, tooth-and-nail attitude, that no matter what, ‘you’re never going to get on top of me’.

“You can’t develop that in someone. That eye-of-the-tiger mentality is just there.

“That’s what Huni will have to get past.’’

Originally published as Paul Gallen vs Justis Huni: The Queenslander who helped Blues star fall in love with boxing