Paul Gallen has overcome former UFC star Mark Hunt in a high-quality heavyweight fight at Bankwest Stadium.
The NRL legend earned a unanimous points decision to stay undefeated as a professional boxer, before calling out former UFC middleweight champion Rob Whittaker.
“I’m just gonna beat him, I’m gonna beat him like I beat Mark,” Gallen declared. “I’ll get in there and smash him.”
Hunt, weighing a whopping 127kg, started the better of the two, landing a series of heavy blows in the opening two rounds. But Gallen showed great heart to compose himself from a daze and dish out his own punishment.
Once he had settled into the fight, Gallen looked in control and did his best work in close. On a number of occasions he had Hunt on the ropes and didn’t hesitate in landing a series of shots to the body and underside of the face.
Hunt appeared to be out of gas before the fight had reached half distance but still loomed as a knockout threat and continued to strike Gallen with power punches, albeit not as often as he would have liked.
After six round, the judges scored the fight 58-56, 58-56 and 59-55, all in favour of Gallen.
“He hit me in Round 2. I don’t know what he got me with, but it rocked me for a second,” Gallen said. “[But] I’m so fit at the moment, I’ve trained so hard.”
