Paul Gallen and Lucas Browne responded to some late drama that threatened to put their boxing blockbuster in jeopardy as they weighed in ahead of Wednesday night’s fight.
Retired NRL star Gallen and Browne will face off in Wollongong and the heavyweights hit the scales on Tuesday.
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Browne weighed in at 117.08kg while Gallen, who is considerably shorter than his opponent, stood at 102.2kg. It’s a significant difference but neither man was giving much away, after their trash talk escalated to ugly levels earlier in the week.
Browne couldn’t fit the custom-made sponsored gloves on his huge hands on Tuesday morning, and told boxing presenter Ben Damon the second pair he tried were “very tight”.
However, when asked if there was any danger the unforeseen twist could force the fight to be cancelled, the former heavyweight world champion seemed confident it would go ahead and said it was “the promoter’s problem”.
“The first ones I couldn’t even get on my hands — that’s without wraps or anything else,” Browne said. “The second ones were very tight. This might be the start of my bare-knuckle career, you never know.”
Gallen wasn’t concerned about the fight being derailed by the glove drama, again saying it’s an issue for the promoter.
The pair are contractually obliged to wear 10-ounce Everlast gloves. According to The Daily Telegraph’s Jamie Pandaram, Team Gallen was wary of Browne trying to pull a swiftie before the fight.
“This is a serious issue, they believe Browne wants to force them into letting him fight with horsehair gloves, which they will reject completely,” Pandaram tweeted.
Browne said “I’m just going to belt him” when asked how the fight will pan out, but Gallen has other ideas. The former NSW Origin skipper doesn’t care how he gets the win, but is confident he’ll be raising his hand on Wednesday night.
“Points or stoppage, I don’t care,” Gallen said. “He can do what he wants, say what he wants. But tomorrow night he’s going down.”
Browne landed one final sledge before they enter the ring, calling Gallen “Peptide Paul” in reference to Cronulla’s infamous supplements scandal.