Paul Gallen will fight for the ANBF Australasian heavyweight title on a huge night of boxing next month, that will also include Harry Garside and Nikita Tszyu.
The former Sharks captain will face Kris Terzievski, who is 12-1-1 as a pro fighter.
Gallen said this is a fight people want to see – saying that the public only want him fighting other footy players, or genuine boxing contenders – and Terzievski is definitely the latter.
“The boys told me there’s been no crossover star that’s ever won the Australasian title, so that was a huge carrot for myself to try and win that, to do something no other rugby league player has ever done,” Gallen said at the announcement of the fight card on Tuesday morning.
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“I’ve been lucky enough to achieve everything in rugby league, play for my country, my state, win a premiership – and I’ve come over to boxing, I’ve made no secret of what I’m here for but at the end of the day, to win a title like this against a guy with the record that he has, it would be very good for myself, to show my family, show my kids when they get older.”
Despite always saying he was only boxing for the money, Gallen said the allure of a title and a big scalp was too much to turn down.
“It’s a huge risk, a big risk to fight a guy like this,” Gallen said.
“I could easily sit out and wait for the NRL season to finish and fight a couple of NRL players at the backend of the year and get my money and sail off into the sunset – but I’m fighting a guy who’s got a great record.
“It’s a dangerous fight. If I lost this fight, this could be the end.”
Garside will defend his Australian lightweight title against Layton McFerran (5-1), barely a month after his win over Manuer Matet in Sydney.
“I absolutely love getting in the ring, so when the opportunity came up, I couldn’t say no,” the Olympian said.
“The old school fighters, they were fighting all the time, every second weekend – I want to be no different.”
Meanwhile, the junior Tszyu brother will have just his second professional fight in what is colloquially known as ‘Tszyucastle’, following in the footsteps of both his father Kostya and brother Tim.
“When I was there the first time for my brother’s fight with Hogan, it was an electric atmosphere,” Tszyu said.
“Just as I walked through the gates I could feel the rowdiness of the city, I could feel the passion that they have for this sport and it was just a beautiful scene to be a part of.”
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