Paul Gallen is adamant he will overcome Josh Aloiai in the pair’s upcoming fight, despite admitting “all the chips” are in the Manly Sea Eagles forward’s favour.
The pair are set to face off in the ring on December 10, and Gallen revealed how the proposition from the 26-year-old was initially pitched to him as a sparring opportunity.
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“He actually came and spoke to me after a rugby league game when I was commentating and asked if he could do some sparring and I said, ‘Yeah any time’ and never heard another peep,” Gallen told MainEvent prior to Tim Tszyu’s fight against Takeshi Inoue on Wednesday night.
“I actually spoke to another friend of his, someone who knows him, and he said, ‘Look mate, he doesn’t want to spar you, he wants to fight you, he thinks he can beat you. Don’t believe what he says’.”
While Aloiai is 14 years younger and has nine centimetres on Gallen, the former Sharks skipper said he will use a weakness he’s seen in Aloiai on the football field to undo him in the ring.
“I’ve watched him play rugby league, he can’t get through 15-20 minutes and I’ve got no doubt it’ll be the same thing in a fight,” he said.
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“He knows I’m going to be in his face. He knows I’m going to pressure him, he’s said that from day one and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll pressure him and by the end of the seventh or eighth round I’ll catch up to him and he’ll be gassed.”
Gallen’s confidence comes despite his admission that the cards are stacked in Aloiai’s favour, given the veteran’s lack of familiarity with his opponent’s style.
“I know absolutely nothing about him,” Gallen said.
“His trainer, Huss, I know him really well. Huss is a really nice guy, I’ve got no beef with Huss.
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“I feel to some point he’s been watching me over these years spar all his team members and he’s been able to take that back to Josh and tell him exactly what I like and what I can and can’t do.
“So I feel like there’s a huge advantage there for them. You throw on top of that they refused to fight three-minute rounds, we’re only fighting two-minute rounds, he’s done everything to stack it in his favour, which I suppose is what you’ve got to do.”
Gallen has lost just once in 13 professional fights, in his most recent encounter with Justis Huni in June.
Despite the loss against Huni, Gallen believes the lessons learnt will stand him in good stead against Aloiai.
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“I took [Huni] on and went 10 rounds with him,” he said.
“I learnt a lot from that fight on how to be a little more defensive and to not cop so many shots and while I know I can take a shot, against Josh I’ll be a little bit more defensive.”