A rivalry which spans over a decade and across two sports culminates on Wednesday when Sonny Bill Williams and Paul Gallen battle it out inside the ring at Qudos Bank Park, Sydney.
While their feud will be settled in the boxing ring, each made their name on the rugby pitch.
Gallen (15-2-1) became a one-club legend with Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, playing a record 348 matches for the National Rugby League side, across 19 years.
In 2016, ‘Gal’ led the Sharks to their maiden NRL premiership title, ending a 50-year wait.
On the field, the Australian was famed for his grit, resilience and will to win. Unsurprisingly, those same attributes transferred well to boxing.
The 43-year-old made his professional debut in the sweet science in 2014. However, it was in 2020 that he stepped up his level of competition, defeating mixed-martial-artist, Mark Hunt, by unanimous decision.
In his next bout, Gallen added real credence to his boxing credentials, stopping Lucas Browne, in the opening round. ‘Big Daddy’ was a former WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight champion, but his career had stagnated after testing positive for, the prohibited substance, clenbuterol.
Despite the tarnished reputation of his compatriot, Gallen’s victory was impressive nonetheless.
In 2021, Gallen’s undefeated run came to a crashing halt when he took on, former amateur World Championship silver medallist, Justis Huni. Sixteen-years the rugby star’s junior, Huni was too fast, too accurate and ground his opponent down in the 10th round.
While the Aussie has had greater success in the ring, it could be argued that Williams (9-1, 4 KOs) achieved more on the pitch.
The New Zealander broke on the scene in 2004, helping the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs claim the NRL Premiership title, with the future dual-code superstar winning the RLIF Rookie award.
In 2008, the All Black made a controversial mid-season switch to rugby union, joining Toulouse.
In the 15-player code, Williams played a pivotal role in guiding New Zealand to two World Cups.
During the 2013 season ‘SBW’ returned to rugby league, claiming another premiership title with Sydney Roosters. After that season of glory, Williams once more defected to union and remained their until 2020 when he opted to end his career back in 13-man version of the game.
Williams, not content with being a professional in two sports, added a third to mix when he made his boxing debut, in 2009.
Like Gallen, the crowning moment of his pugilistic career came when he defeated a disgraced former heavyweight world champion, on this occasion, Frans Botha. ‘The White Buffalo’ had briefly held the IBF title, in 1995, but was stripped after he tested positive for steroids.
The 39-year-old has been out of the ring for almost two-and-a-half years, following a shock defeat to Hunt - who Gallen had previously outpointed.
This will not be the first time that Williams and Gallen have met in a high-profile contest, as the pair battled it out in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Final.
On the night Australia, vice-captained by Gallen, cruised to victory by a scoreline of 34-2. Afterwards, the two rivals exchanged shirts as a sign of mutual respect. However, Gallen subsequently revealed he gifted Williams’ top to a friend of his.
At that stage, their relationship was somewhat cordial, built on a foundation of sporting admiration, but in the intervening years, those foundations have crumbled.
Currently, it is commonplace to build boxing matches on the back of shared animosity, but too often, it comes across as artificial. That is not the case here; the insults have been personal, too personal perhaps.
Given their sporting background, it was inevitable that both men would be paired together in a fantasy match-up, and, initially, each appeared to be receptive.
In 2017, ‘Gal’ lit the blue touchpaper on the feud when he publicly declared that he would knockout Williams and the New Zealander was too acclimatised to getting everything his own way.
From that point on, their camps have engaged in fraught on-again/off-again negotiations with everything from purse split to number and duration of rounds being contested.
Both men have clashed on live television on two occasions when they were members of rugby panel shows. The hate is authentic.
Eventually, a deal was struck for the former rugby players to fight over eight two-minute rounds, in a battle which has captured the public imagination in both Australian and New Zealand.
As the fight approaches, the vitriol has increased, with Gallen calling his rival ‘a disgusting human being’ at the final press conference while Williams has called out the Aussie over his role in Sharks’ peptides scandal which saw the club embroiled in a high-profile battle with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.
Williams will enter the ring as the 4/7 favourite, understandably as he is the younger man and possesses significant height and reach advantages.
However, Gallen (5/4) will be confident that his greater experience in the ring will guide him to victory.
Now, after over a decade of speculation, and several years of bad-blood, the talking is over – the score will be settled once and for all.
Odds were correct at the time of publishing.
