Paul Gallen demolishes Lucas Browne in heavyweight bout

Paul Gallen has pulled off a huge upset, embarrassing former boxing champion Lucas Browne with a brutal first round knockout.

Paul Gallen punches Lucas Browne.

Rugby league great Paul Gallen has obliterated former boxing champion Lucas Browne in Wednesday evening’s heavyweight bout, winning via first round TKO in a huge upset.

The Wollongong crowd were left stunned when Browne was dropped twice in the opening round, Gallen peppering him with an flurry of monster strikes to the head.

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Despite being 15 kilograms lighter than the former WBA heavyweight champion, Gallen dominated the entire two-minute contest.

The former Cronulla Sharks star dropped his opponent in less than 60 seconds when he landed a punishing left hand to the temple, which resulted in Browne tumbling forwards.

When the fight recommenced, Gallen walked Browne down and had him pinned on the ropes.

Three savage right hands from Gallen dropped Browne a second time, and the referee had no option but to stop the fight.

The State of Origin great risked it all in his blockbuster with Browne – and his legitimacy as a boxing talent, and more importantly his legitimacy as a boxing spectacle has been hammered home with each blow he rained down.

Oh. My. God. Gallen.

— cody kaye (@Cody_KayeFOX) April 21, 2021

Gallen just owned Browne. Dropped him twice in less than 2 minutes. What was that rubbish.

— Higgo (@Higgo74) April 21, 2021

Paul Gallen’s second act as a professional sportsman keeps getting better... has no business being in there with guys with Browne’s resume, & stops him in round 1 in devastating fashion. #GallenBrowne

— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas) April 21, 2021

LIVE BLOG: Gallen vs Browne

“I kept saying to myself I can knock him out, and it happened,” Gallen said after the win.

“I’ve been training to be a boxer for eight to 10 months.

“It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to something.

“The more I trained, the more I sparred, the better I became at boxing and it showed tonight.”

Gallen was undefeated from 11 professional fights leading into Wednesday’s bout, but this undeniably goes down as the biggest win of his career.

His extraordinary late career move to boxing has the 39-year-old on track for a multimillion dollar payday this year with a proposal emerging for a Suncorp Stadium showdown against rising star heavyweight Justis Huni.

Paul Gallen punches Lucas Browne.

Paul Gallen celebrates after defeating Lucas Browne.

Earlier in the day, Gallen reportedly threatened to lock himself in his dressing room unless he can be guaranteed drug testing will be carried out.

Gallen repeatedly needled Browne for months about the former heavyweight champion’s drug ban.

Browne tested positive to banned weight-reducing drug clenbuterol in 2016 and was stripped of his world title.

Even if the tests are conducted before the fight, no analysis of the samples could be completed for several days.

Full card

Paul Gallen defeated Lucas Browne via TKO, Round 1

Liam Wilson defeated Francis Chua via unanimous decision (98-92 x2, 97-94)

Stevie Spark defeated Jack Brubaker via unanimous decision (80-72, 77-74)

Bruno Tarimo defeated Kye MacKenzie via unanimous decision (97-92, 97-92, 96-93)

Leonardo Zappavigna defeated Danny Kennedy via TKO, Round 3

Undercard

Tyler Sargent Wilson defeated Steven Rados via majority decision (38-38, 39-37, 40-36)

Jackson Murray defeated Webster Teaupa via TKO, Round 1

Viviana Ruiz Corredor defeated Rebecca Moss via TKO, Round 3