Paul Gallen delivers huge ‘up yours’ to Phil Gould after defeating Sonny Bill Williams

Paul Gallen delivered a brutal ‘up yours’ to Phil Gould after beating Sonny Bill Williams by split decision on Wednesday night.

Paul Gallen has delivered a brutal ‘up yours’ to Phil Gould after beating Sonny Bill Williams by split decision on Wednesday night.

After narrowly edging Sonny Bill in a main event classic, ‘G-Train’ brought an end to his boxing career that saw him take on some of Australia’s biggest names in the sport, such as Justis Huni and Lucas Browne.

Speaking in the mixed zone after the fight, Gallen said he was motivated to go out on a high, but the win was made even sweeter by the fact that, in doing so, he could give a big ‘up yours’ to Bulldogs supremo Gould.

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“Do you know what I’m most happy with today? Gus Gould backed Sonny Bill Williams,” Gallen said.

“Let me tell you now, there’s not a single person or single thing that someone can say that’s going to motivate me more than I motivate myself, but every now and then I’m happy to say up yours.

“Gus, up yours. Got him!”

Paul Gallen says the sweetest part about his win was the fact he got one up over Phil Gould. Image: Stan/Getty

However, Gallen’s win didn’t come without plenty of controversy, with many feeling Williams did enough to get the win.

Williams looked far fitter and fresher in the early rounds, using his jab to good effect, before Gallen produced one of his trademark comebacks to take the win and all the bragging rights by split decision, 77-74, 74-77, 76-75.

However, Aussie boxing legend Danny Green saw it differently.

“It’s very difficult to score a fight when ... you’re so involved in calling it; you’re not really counting the punches,” Green said.

“But for me, Sonny landed the cleaner, harder, crisper shots that were more eye-catching, and professional boxing is scored on the cleaner, harder punches.

“I said, I questioned, ‘Are the judges going to score those body shots?’, and if they were, landed a tonne. So that was the difference, I guess.”

Paul Gallen won a split decision over Sonny Bill Williams on Wednesday night. Picture Thomas Lisson

Many felt Sonny Bill Williams did enough to get the win. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Stan Sport commentator Renee Gartner also thought Williams did enough to get his hand raised.

“Yes, there were body punches from Gallen, but I just didn’t think there was enough. I didn’t think the workrate was there, and I don’t think the defence was there, either.

“I do love Gal, he’s one of my favourites, and I was backing him to win the fight, but I just thought it was more steered towards Sonny.”

“I was steering more towards Sonny. I thought even with the point off, I thought he was still in front there,” Gartner said.

“I thought he was a lot more tactical, he was a lot more evasive ... he landed more [punches], he was cleaner.

And safe to say Williams didn’t take the decision loss well either.

Such was his dismay that he stormed out of the ring after the result was announced and refused to do a post-fight interview or address the media.

After news.com.au pushed for a comment on the result from the Sonny Bill camp, they came back with: “You saw it, you can report on what you saw.”

Originally published as Paul Gallen delivers huge ‘up yours’ to Phil Gould after defeating Sonny Bill Williams