First time someone really tried to put Paul Gallen down, they used a brick.
At the time, he was still a boy.
Around 13, maybe.
Although exactly what brought it all about?
Nah, Gal isn’t willing to say.
Yet confirming it all took place?
Yeah, he’ll do that.
Especially given this is a yarn about what has to be the unlikeliest crown achieved in his 25 years of collision sport – Australian crossover boxing star.
Gallen v Asofa-Solomona | Friday November 6 from 7pm AEDT | Australian sporting icon and crossover boxing king Paul Gallen returns to the ring to face his biggest opponent yet, Nelson ‘Big Nasty’ Asofa-Solomona. | Order now on Kayo Sports.
Which of course, means us questioning Gal about his famed chin.
About his unwavering ability to get up.
And specifically, where he thinks all this started?
Which is why he brings up the brick.
“Because,” Gal says simply, “it should’ve f***ing killed me”.
Thing is though, it didn’t.
Same as nothing has finished him since.
Not even a thunderous right hand from Mark Hunt.
Remember that one?
Landing so heavy in round two of their 2015 Bankwest Stadium brawl … well, Gal would later tell mates backstage how, when hit, he didn’t know even if he was still standing.
Truly, so hard was he smashed by the man who almost became UFC heavyweight king, the dazed leaguie for a moment only that the crowd was cheering.
“But with no idea,” he conceded later, “if I was stood up or laid on the canvas”.
And this, remember, was in a fight Gallen won.
Which still doesn’t make this a story about winning.
Or even standing.
No, this is a yarn about getting up.
Dusting off.
Going again.
Understanding that even in his storied NRL career, Gallen isn’t so much defined by ending a Queensland Origin dynasty, or even turning the porch light out on Harold Holt, as he is the incredible grind of getting there.
“Just a f***ing animal,” is how Willie Mason puts it.
With this former Origin and Test team-mate, plus occasional NRL rival, explaining how “the bloke just doesn’t quit – ever”.
Importantly, it’s been the same in boxing.
And a career which come Friday night in Sydney – and after more farewells than Farnsey – sees him making one final walk against Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
Again, Gal is the betting outsider, too.
And just like before Hunto, SBW, and finishing former world champ Lucas Browne in under a round.
Proving even in a bookie’s ledger, Gal gets up when nobody thinks he can.
Which has habit, too, of drawing crowds.
With some whispering Friday’s farewell will surpass $7 million in earnings for Gal.
Although just like the brick, he won’t be drawn on that, either.
Same deal suggestions his last contract could make him over a $1 million.
“But,” he says, “it’s enough to get me up and out of bed”.
Which again, goes to the core of this yarn, right?
Getting up, dusting off, going again.
Call it the undeniable signature of a fighter whose undeniably success has also included being dropped by Justin Hodges, by Herman Ene Purcell, even bested by Kris Terzievski.
Gal, of course, was battered by Justis Huni, too.
Yet all that anyone remembers of that one? It’s of the big fella picking himself one more time.
And at the finish, gloves up while demanding referee John Cauchi allow him to fight on.
“A guy,” says Australian boxing great Danny Green, “who just has the junkyard dog in him”.
Yet now finally, the JYD is readying to say goodbye.
And better, against Big Nasty.
That fellow crossover star promising to end Gal’s story in the one way it’s never gone.
Without this Shire tough getting up.
Which is why now on the eve of all this, we look at what has made this most unlikely of crossover sporting careers …
PAUL GALLEN GOING 45 YEARS WITHOUT EVER BEING KAYOED
Sitting this particular Tuesday on a ring apron inside Doyle’s Boxing Club, Gallen looks every inch a sweaty, tagged mess after sparring rounds with towering super Aussie prospect Ibrahim Mohammed.
Asked how he feels, and this man who completed the Sydney Marathon in August, and after also churning through a 150km charity walk in June, shrugs before replying: “Glad it wasn’t scored”.
Then briefly, Gal flashes a self-deprecating grin.
Which just for a moment, lights up a face rarely famed for fun.
Understanding that ever since we first covered this bloke’s NRL debut for Rugby League Week some 25 years ago, the Gallen story has always been one of exhausting, physical grind.
Doesn’t matter if it were carting Steedens at Shark Park, or sitting there on the chest of Hodges, Hunt or Huni, Gal has made persistence and unrelenting pressure his thing.
Of course, there’s been controversy, too.
Like this bloke becoming the unwitting face of a 2013 ASADA scandal so undeniably murky, he has always vehemently talked of not knowing if he was “duped or doped”.
Gallen: “It was a sh*t sandwich we got!” | 04:46
And still, he got up from that one too.
Then within three winters, led his beloved Sharks to their first premiership in 50 years.
“Toughest bastard I’ve ever met,” says Cronulla premiership coach Shane Flanagan.
A fella who can talk for hours about Gal playing busted, churning through 80 minutes as an Origin prop, even leaving the field only twice for HIAs in a career spanning almost 350 games.
It’s also often told how Gal has never been rendered unconscious.
“Although a lot of us f***ing tried,” laughs No Limit promoter George Rose, whose previous life also involved 10 years as an NRL middle.
“So I know Gal copped his share of swinging arms. Same deal, chops across the back of his head.
“But nobody was able to finish him. Same as they haven’t in boxing, either.
“Honestly, I’d argue he’s the toughest Australian athlete of all time.”
Which is how, as he sits up on the ring apron, shirtless, and removing black hand wraps, Fox Sports Australia will, first up, ask Gal were this toughness comes from.
And when he first realised something was different about that now infamous chin.
Which is when he tells you about a day, aged 13.
“And I won’t say exactly what happened,” he starts. “But I got hit with a brick. Or a rock. Anyway, it didn’t do anything to me.
“At the time, I remember thinking ‘man, that should’ve f***ing killed me’. But it didn’t do anything. I only came out of it all with a bruised ear.”
Which is a handy superpower to have, right?
“It’s served me well, yeah,” Gal grins. “But in life, you do what you can with what you’ve got … and I’ve got a hard head.”
Then, after a short pause, this longtime crossover star goes again.
“A hard head,” he says, “and I train hard, too. Nobody can take that from me”.
And still, we remember the night a Toowoomba teenager almost did …
NAS: “I’m still calm bro, all good!” | 03:02
“C’MON, GET UP”: PAUL GALLEN’S ABILITY TO KEEP GETTING UP
Only four months before earning his 2014 NSW Origin fairytale, Gallen made his professional boxing debut.
Set for Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion – and on the undercard of Daniel Geale versus Garth Wood — this bout was meant to be about nothing but the NRL star’s arrival into the sport.
Problem was, nobody told Herman Ene Purcell.
A muscled Toowoomba puncher who, after only 70 seconds, came out of a clinch and – boom — dropped Gal to the canvas with a thudding left hand.
“Which was exactly as planned,” recounts Brendon Smith, the man employed as Purcell’s trainer that night. And a fella who almost rendered Gal the fight story that never was.
“Because Herman had this beautiful left hook,” Smithy continues. “And we planned at the clinch … I told him, ‘give Gal a bump and you’ll catch him on the way out’.”
And what would happen then?
“Well, Herman once hit me in padwork,” he says, “and broke four of my fingers”.
Across the ring, Gallen’s corner was equally stunned.
“Oh, my stomach shrunk,” laughs Mark Gambin, who not only trained Gal for his professional debut, but first broached the idea of fighting.
Which, he says, was during a padwork session at Cronulla’s gym.
“That is a f***ing dog! That is a rat!” | 09:33
Back then employed as a Sharks conditioning coach, Gambin initially worked pads with the cyoung lock who, while boxing novice, and looking only to get fitter for footy, quickly showed promise.
“And so I suggested a blue collar fight,” Gambin recalls. “But Gal just laughed. Said ‘ah, f***, nah, I don’t wanna do that …”
Still, Gambin persisted.
And eventually, coaxed Gal into a 2012 Auckland Fight for Life card involving Willie Mason and Greg Bird.
Wearing headgear and 16 ounce gloves, Gal was put up against 115kg All Black Hika Elliott.
Another muscled monster who, apart from boasting 10 years in Super Rugby and a karate black belt, had also gone unbeaten in 62 kickboxing bouts.
“But Gal bashed him,” Gambin grins. “And was immediately hooked”.
Which is how a year later, the pair found themselves back in Auckland again, this time against All Black Liam Messam.
Again, Gal won, and impressively enough to earn a $50,000 professional debut.
But then within just a minute of that, Purcell went thwack.
“And if you rewatch it all on YouTube,” Gambin grins, “you’ll see me in the corner going ‘oh f***’.
“I mean, it was a flash knockdown. And came because Gal got caught off balance more than hurt. But still, it was a shock.”
Sitting now on that ring inside Doyle’s, where he has done much of his sparring for Friday night, Gal still remembers the left hook, too.
“Oh, clearly,” he grins. “I threw a punch to Herman’s body and actually saw him loading up. And he sure enough, he got me. Then the whole way down, I remember falling as if in slow motion.”
And when your backside found the canvas?
“I told myself ‘c’mon, get up’,” he shrugs. “And I did.”
Gallen spars with 208cm giant | 02:19
“DEATH BY ACCUMULATION”: PAUL GALLEN’S SWARMING FIGHT STYLE
Through a dozen years and 19 fights, Gallen’s fight style has always been one of unrelenting pressure.
Just ask Kris Terzievski; that hulking Melbourne southpaw who, right now, on a tear of eight straight and chasing WBC bridgerweight gold.
Back in 2022 however, it was this same fighter who bested Gallen for the Australian heavyweight title – and only a year after Huni had done the same.
But you wanna know a secret?
Heading for his stool through eight rounds, this now world ranked fighter remembers wondering if, maybe, a fight week taunt from his rival was slowly coming true
“Because right throughout our build,” Terzievski grins, “Gal had continually said how he’d eventually get to me.
“How eventually, I’d feel his pace. Feel his pressure.
“And returning to my corner after round eight, I can still remember thinking ‘f***, this guy might be right’.
“Honestly, I was feeling it.
“From about round three, I’d been getting into my groove. I can even remember seeing him taking my body shots and going ‘ooooah’.
“But each time, mate, he’d just bite down and come on again …”
Which is why through eight, this Melbourne slugger started wondering if, maybe, Gal was readying for yet another upset.
“Because there isn’t much to his game,” Terzievski says. “And even he’ll admit to that. But Gal’s ability to keep asking questions of you … mate, it’s impressive”.
Same deal, Flanagan says, inside the Sharks gym.
With the coach explaining how any time a player went big with a deadlift, a squat, whatever, the skipper then had to come in and beat it. “Which is why,” Flanno says, “he held records everywhere in our gym”.
And again, Gal fights the same way.
With even the man himself aware that, while not possessing, say, the punching power of NAS, or anything like the skills of Anthony Mundine, he could couple that granite chin with relentless pressure.
“Death by accumulation,” is how Gambin puts it.
Explaining how Gallen overwhelms by “continually coming at you from angles, and while you pray for that bell to arrive”.
Which again goes to the heart of this fighter who, while undeniably boasting skill, just keeps getting up — even if its from one moment of a fight to the next.
To which the man himself says what?
“That’s just what life is about,” he shrugs. “Every day you get up and keep going.
“Throughout my career, I’ve had some ups, some down, even some really bad ones.
“And some have been my fault. Others haven’t.
“But at the end of the day, I’ve always kept turning up.
“I’ve turned up for my family, for team-mates, for my friends.
“And I’ve turned up for myself.
“That’s what life is, you just keep turning up”.
Legends glove-up to show keys to victory | 17:06
“FREAKING BLOKES OUT”: PAUL GALLEN’S INCREDIBLE MOTOR & MENTALITY
Every time a young NRL player walks into the Caringbah gym of Justin Lang, they get handed a set of numbers.
“Yeah, Gal Standards,” the exercise physiologist grins. “That’s what we call ‘em.
“For players wanting NRL success, we say ‘here are the Gal Standards, try and hit these”.
Which is no small thing when considering Lang – apart from privately training the footballing fighter for a decade — has also aided the likes of Rob Whittaker, our first UFC champion, and Craig ‘Crowie’ Alexander, Australia’s famed Ironman king.
Initially linking up with Gal a year before even his 2016 premiership success, Langy has since been charged with continually finding new ways to keep him competing with each new wave of rugby league’s Generation Next.
Even in the build to this Friday’s fight, Lang has watched his charge, at 45, outwork NRL players in his gym.
Specifically, on a stationary bike session involving 10 efforts of two-minutes bursts. With his athletes, each time, set a goal of reaching 600m.
“And I’ll have NRL players do it,” he says, “and hit the mark six or seven times”.
But when Gal had a crack in recent days?
“He finished all 10,” Lang grins. “Then he looks at me and goes ‘nah, f*** that’, and did another five — and for each one, still hit 600m.”
Just as importantly though, it’s always been this way.
With Gambin recounting how, years ago, and when training blokes out of Rockdale’s famed Tszyu Boxing Academy, Gallen was continually “freaking blokes out”.
And not just because, as a novice, he was sparring, and holding his own, against the likes of Solomon Haumono.
No, it was more again.
“We’d finish hard sessions,” Gambin explains, “and after having sparred round, after round.
“And then suddenly, here comes Gal jumping back into the ring for extras.
“I mean, even the boxers would be sitting down outside the ring gassed, shirts off, and there’s Gal going in to do, say, fireman carries for 20 minutes.
“He’d just throw some guy over his shoulder, then start running him around the ring.”
Elsewhere, we can tell you that when NRL clubs enter the famed Wanda Sandhills for training, they usually top out at, say, 10 climbs.
But Gal?
Well, Langy recalls a day where, together, and with Alexander, they did 100.
Better, the plan was for all three to finish together.
“So Gal started at five o’clock in the morning,” the trainer explains. “It was about 80 minutes before me and around two hours before Crowie.
“That’s how Gal ensured we finished within 10 minutes of each other … he ran sandhills for four hours”.
Gallen vows to end NAS’ boxing career | 00:45
“PRODUCE NUMBERS”: PAUL GALLEN’S ABILITY TO MAKE YOU CARE
So what makes Gallen ‘must watch’ TV?
Understanding, that no matter what his critics – and there’s a couple – might say, the Main Event numbers confirm he has long been that.
Of course, those critics are also part of the secret, right?
With Gallen not only winning plenty of fans at Cronulla, or skippering the Blues, but more than a few haters thanks to his uncompromising, win-at-all costs playing style.
And just like Choc Mundine, Gal has no problem being the bad guy.
Truly, there’s no athlete alive cares what you think of them less.
Which coupled with his continual pursuit of opponents who seemed beyond him – think Hunt, Browne, even for a time SBW – has also been key to Joe Public shelling out to watch his fights.
“Had I continually fought bums,” Gallen shrugs, “nobody watches. It would’ve been a case of ‘oh, Gallen wins this easy’.
“But continually chasing competitive fights, I think that’s why I’ve produced such big pay per view numbers while also getting paid the figures that I have.”
And yet it’s been more, too.
“Paul Gallen has been such a success in boxing because he respects the sport,” Main Event commentator Ben Damon insists. “He not only trains like a professional, or takes proper fights, but understands the promotional aspect of the sport.
“And combined, this recipe has seen him resonate with both a mainstream audience and boxing’s hardcore base.”
Danny Green agrees, saying: “I may be a boxing purist, but Paul Gallen has changed my perspective on rugby league players fighting.
“And I’m not saying I like everyone. Same as I don’t like the fact anyone can walk into our sport and call themselves a fight. But Gal, mate, he’s really been a professional fighter.”
Damon also notes that while there are a host of crossover names on Gallen’s winning resume, he also boasts the scalps of Hunt and Browne, amongst others.
“And you simply don’t step up to fight those guys unless you’re taking the sport seriously,” he says. “And you don’t beat them unless you can seriously fight.
“So whatever happens this Friday, Paul Gallen has earned his place in Aussie boxing. And once again, we’ll also see some of the sport’s emerging stars on a Gallen undercard, and that assures his legacy.”
Ironically, while embracing the hate may have helped Gallen’s pay-per-view rise, there is also no denying the real drive of his fight career – and, indeed, what now has him back one last time.
Family.
After enduring his own parents’ separation as a child, and then moving through seven different households within a year, Gallen has vowed to do things differently for he and wife Anne’s own four children.
“And I’m incredibly lucky,” Gallen says of his family. “Which is why everything I do is about providing for them.
“That’s the reason I’ve fought. Why I’m fighting now.
“It’s to give my kids a life I never had. And hopefully, make their lives easier — and lot more comfortable — than what mine was as a teenager.”
Which is why this ageing fighter says NAS is irrelevant to him.
Although please don’t mistake this for Gal suggesting he doesn’t care about the result.
“Because I do care,” he says.
And with good reason.
Understanding this one last Main Event headliner, it’s no different to his being dropped by Herman Ene Purcell.
Or eating a Hunto right hand.
It’s no different to him surviving a Huni onslaught, sparring a beast like Haumono, or fighting Justin Hodges within an hour of Ben Hannant – and before a crowd of baying Queenslanders.
Hell, it’s even no different to being whacked in the face by that brick.
One more time, this is about Gal getting up.