Paul Gallen vs Justis Huni: When is it, how to watch, pay-per-view, stream and odds

Brendan Bradford

Paul Gallen vs Justis Huni: When is it, how to watch, pay-per-view, stream and odds image

Paul Gallen will take on the toughest test of his boxing career to date when he steps into the ring opposite rising heavyweight star Justis Huni. 

The fight will be held at the ICC Exhibition Center at Darling Harbour in Sydney on Wednesday, June 16. THAT'S TONIGHT. 

Here's everything you need to know about the heavyweight showdown

JUSTIS HUNI KNOCKS OUT PAUL GALLEN 

Justis Huni scored a 10th round knockout win over an incredibly tough Paul Gallen. 

Hit the link here to see how it all went down

PAUL GALLEN REACTS TO FIRST LOSS OF HIS BOXING CAREER

Paul Gallen broke his rib in the second round of the fight, but somehow managed to last until the 10th. 

Watch him talk about the injury below. 

PAUL GALLEN VS JUSTIS HUNI FIGHT - LIVE UPDATES, HIGHLIGHTS AND RESULTS

Follow along here for all the action from fight night. 

10:10pm - Justis Huni is dominating Paul Gallen right now. Three rounds to go. 

9:20pm - If they gave fight of the night awards at boxing, this would probably win it. Issac Hardman stopped Eman Carlos in the fourth after a hectic the rounds. Carlos was rattled in the first, but fought back through a cut in the second. He was dropped once in the fourth before referee Will Soulos stopped it. 

Great fight. 


8:41 pm - Andrei Mikhailovic scored a second round knockout win over bitter Kiwi rival Alex Hanan in the third fight on the card. The pair hate each other, plain and simple. 

After a dirty opening round, Mikhailovic dropped Hanan twice in the second before referee John Cauci stopped it with just seconds remaining in the frame. 


8:15pm - Sam Goodman is all class stopping the tough as nails Nort Beauchamp via sixth round TKO. Goodman moved well, punched with precision and won every round until referee Will Soulos stopped it in the sixth. 


7:35pm - Jason Whately proves too much for the super-experienced Victor Oganov in the first fight of the night. 

In a rematch of their 2019 fight, Whately's volume of punches overwhelmed the Russian-born Oganov, forcing his corner to throw in the towel in round four. 



GALLEN VS HUNI WEIGH-IN 

The whole card will weigh in on Tuesday afternoon from 12pm. 

All 10 fighters weighed-in on weight. Here are the official weigh-in results. 

Heavyweight - Paul Gallen 99.4kg vs Justis Huni 106.35kg
Middleweight - Eman Carlos 72.35 vs Issac Hardman 72.45
Middleweight - Alex Hanan 71.95 vs Andrei Mikhailovic 72.45
Featherweight - Nort Beauchamp 56.96 vs Sam Goodman 56.90
Cruiserweight - Jason Whately 90.1 vs Victor Oganov 89.65 

Catch up on all the weigh-in action in the video below. 

GALLEN VS HUNI UNDERCARD 

The undercard is stacked. These are the fights we know of so far. 

Paul Gallen vs Justis Huni 
Issac Hardman vs Emmanuel Carlos
Andrei Mikhailovic vs Alex Hannan
Sam Goodman vs Nort Beauchamp

PAUL GALLEN VS JUSTIS HUNI PRESS CONFERENCE

It was a wild presser in Sydney on Monday morning, with Paul Gallen going on the attack.

Read all about it here, or watch the full thing below.

PAUL GALLEN BOXING RECORD - BOXREC 

Paul Gallen is undefeated as a professional boxer and holds an 11-1 record. 

He has won six of his 11 fights by knockout, and his only blemish is a controversial draw with Barry Hall in 2019. 

JUSTIS HUNI RECORD - BOXREC 

Huni has a perfect 4-0 record since turning pro late last year. 

He won the Australian heavyweight title in his pro debut, stopping Django Opelu in seven rounds. In December he scored a fourth-round stoppage win over Arsene Fosso, before a quickfire win over Jack Maris. 

His 10-round win over Tsoye in May was his longest fight to date, but offered some much needed work leading into his bout with Gallen. 

PAUL GALLEN VS JUSTIS HUNI PREVIEW WITH JEFF FENECH 

Check out the video below for Jeff Fenech's thoughts on the fight. 

GALLEN VS HUNI BETTING ODDS 

Huni is the big favourite, paying $1.17, while at the time of writing, Gallen is at $4.65.

Huni opened the betting at $1.22, but came into $1.13 in early May. After his fight with Tsoye, he drifted slightly again to $1.17.

Gallen opened at $4 even, has drifted out as far as $5.50 before coming back in after Huni's recent fight. 

JUSTIS HUNI AT THE OLYMPICS 

Huni is in the middle of a hectic couple of months.

Following his fights with Tsoye and Gallen - which are only three weeks apart - the Brisbane-based fighter will head to the Tokyo Olymipcs. 

One of the most skillful heavyweights Australia has ever produced, Huni is considered a legitimate gold medal prospect. 

GALLEN VS HUNI REMATCH 

Gallen has signed a two-fight deal with Huni's promoter Dean Lonergan, with a rematch on the cards after the Olympics. 

Although, Lonergan believes Gallen won't want to take up the offer after the first fight. 

"I don't even think Paul Gallen will take the second fight after he gets bashed in two weeks," Lonergan told Sporting News. 

GALLEN VS HUNI AND LONERGAN: THE WAR OF WORDS - A TIMELINE

The build-up to this fight has been pretty spicy, with Lonergan and Gallen engaging in a war of words. 

Huni has largely kept out of it, but stands up for himself when he needs to. Here's a quick rundown of everything that's been said so far. 

Gallen demands larger slice of the pie

It started before a contract had even been signed. 

In late April, fresh off his win over Browne, Gallen said he'd been offered a fight with Huni, but told Lonergan the payday wasn't big enough

Lonergan's dire warning for Gal 

Lonergan listened, increased his offer and the fight was on. 

The promoter gave Gallen a dire warning though, telling Sporting News: “At the end of the day, Paul Gallen is just another bum that I’m feeding to my beast."

Gallen fires back 

It didn't take long for Gallen to hit back at Lonergan, saying "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

At this time, the pair were still haggling over where the fight would be held - in addition to a whole lot of other things. 

Gallen threatens to walk away 

With a location still not agreed upon in early May, Gallen threatened to walk away from the bout altogether. 

Gal and Lonergan had initially agreed to host the fight in Sydney, but Lonergan reportedly tried to change it to Queensland. 

Not the most popular bloke north of the border, Gallen knew he wouldn't get a fair shake with the judges, so threatened to pull out. 

"He's got until the end of the week to sort this out, or it's going to be off," Gallen told Sporting News. 

Lonergan dismisses Gallen's threats 

Lonergan's seen a bit in his days and wasn't worried about Gal's threats to walk away. 

"Paul loves a dollar way too much to walk away from the highest pay day of his life," Lonergan said. 

“With the money he will make from the fight, he would fight at the bottom of a Mt Isa mine with Wally Lewis as the referee, Mal Meninga heading the judging panel, with Trevor Gillmeister and Allan langer as the other two judges.”

Venue confirmed, but poster an issue

By May 10, it was confirmed the fight would be held in Sydney, but another issue had raised its head...the poster. 

Gallen was furious that he wasn't considered the a-side, and that the bout had been dubbed "Termination Day" in reference to Huni's plans to terminate Gallen's boxing career. 

Lonergan says "bleating" Gallen won't need the judges 

The back and forth continued between Lonergan and Gallen into mid-May, with Lonergan saying the judges won't be required. 

Gallen flips Huni the bird at Magic Round 

The fight build-up even spilled over into Magic Round. 

Punters were momentarily distracted from the spate of sin-binnings and send-offs that weekend when Gallen flipped Huni the bird when they saw each other on Saturday night. 

Gallen hits out at 'golden boy' Huni 

Gallen was angry that Huni had agreed to fight Christian Tsoye just three weeks before his own fight with the Australian heavyweight champion. 

Gallen had tried, unsuccessfully, to have the Tsoye fight cancelled, and hit out at Huni in an interview with Sporting News. 

"I've been talking to some people around boxing and he's the golden child," Gallen said.  

"Whatever suits him goes. That seems to be the attitude they've all got towards him and it's the same with this."

Gallen calls Huni a quitter 

Gallen and Huni met face-to-face in Sydney on May 18 for the press conference announcing the bout. 

At that presser, Gallen called Huni "a quitter" after he was forced out of the 2019 World Championships through illness. 

"Once you quit in life, it's in you. It's in you somewhere and at some stage, I'm going to make him quit," he said. 

Huni's health scare 

On May 24 - just days before his fight with Tsoye - Huni revealed his training had been severely impacted after getting his first COVID-19 vaccination shot. 

Read more about it here. 

Gallen's brutal reality check for Huni

For the previous month, it had been Gallen vs Lonergan, with Huni largely staying in the background. 

On May 16, the same day Huni fought Tsoye, Gallen gave Huni a stern warning. 

"Justis Huni needs to be very careful here. He’s going to realise very fast that it’s his name, not Dean Lonergan's or any of these other people," Gallen told Sporting News.

"They're not getting in the ring for him, and if he gets knocked out by Christian Tsoye, it's Justis Huni, not Dean Lonergan.

"He's gotta smarten up. He's not a kid - he's 22 years old - he's an adult and it's his name that's front and centre." 

Huni beats Tsoye by decision 

Gallen was on commentary duties as Huni fought Tsoye in a media-only bout at the ICC Exhibition Centre. 

Huni went the distance for the first time in his career, but Gal wasn't impressed. 

“Yeah without a doubt, I saw things tonight that I can exploit,” Gallen said at a joint press conference with Huni.

“The pace that I’m going to go at is a whole lot faster than what Chris went tonight and once I get on the inside I’m going to be able to keep punching."

Glove drama threatens the fight

It wouldn't be a big event without a glove drama...

Huni has a sponsorship deal with Adidas and wants to wear a pair of the company's foam and horse-hair composite gloves. 

Gallen is sponsored by Everlast and is intent on wearing a pair of the brand's foam-padded Powerlocks. 

Combat Sports Authority regulations in New South Wales state both boxers must wear the same pair of gloves. 

Adidas is willing to pay both fighters to wear their gloves, while Huni's dad and trainer, Rocki, says Justis will wear Gallen's preferred glove if Everlast equals what Adidas are prepared to offer. 

While Rocki says he's willing to fight in Everlasts, he says Gallen is refusing to budge. 

"Justis' sponsors have agreed to pay $5,000 to Justis and $5000 to Gallen to wear their gloves," Huni told Sporting News . 

"If Gallen wants to fight in Everlasts, and wants us to fight in Everlasts, that's fine. But just pay us what the sponsors were going to pay us to fight in their gloves. That's it.

"He's going to walk out of this deal with more than $1.5million, I don't see why he's upset with $5000. It doesn't make sense."

Rocki said he'd be willing to walk away from the fight unless the issue is resolved. 

"F***ing please" - Gallen's response to glove drama

When asked his thoughts on Huni's camp requesting Gallen by them to wear Everlasts, his response was blunt. 

"F***ing please," Gallen told Sporting News. 

Gallen said he wasn't willing to jeopardise his long-standing relationship with Everlast over the fight. 

"I've said, if they want me to wear their gloves, they can pay me for it," he said. 

"I guarantee you they're getting more than five grand, and why should five grand ruin my 10-year relationship with Everlast?"

"Gloves won't matter" says Huni 

Despite all the speculation over the gloves, Huni's response was exactly what you'd expect. 

"Honestly, it doesn't even bother me. It's not going to change the outcome," Huni told Sporting News

"It ends with me getting the win. It doesn't end any other way.

"Whatever gloves they put in front of me, I'll chuck on and fight in them. It's not going to change the outcome - I couldn't care less."

 

Brendan Bradford