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Paul Gallen has denied claims by Sonny Bill Williams about previous contract talks, bizarre house visit charges and drug test dodging ahead of their bad blood boxing bout next month.
Gallen and Williams will finally settle their score in a ring on July 16 in Sydney after a decade of back-and-forth about whether they’d ever actually fight.
But with the deal signed, Gallen told 1News he's ready to throw down at the man he called "a dumb person".
"Here we are now finally, at the age of 43 — it’ll be one month off my 44th birthday," Gallen grinned.
"He’s finally decided to grow a set and get in there with me.
"I’ve got no respect for the man."
In the build up to next month, Williams has repeatedly claimed a fight was almost locked in back in 2022 before Gallen made a late demand to get a 70% share of the pot – a claim he denies.
“I've said about the 2022 fight, [Sonny] just has to show me one text or send me one email, one bit of correspondence but he can't because it never was going to happen,” he said.
“Me asking for 70% in that fight is not true because as I said, there was no correspondence. There was no chat about it at all.”
Williams last week also took other shots at Gallen’s character, saying he charges old teammates money to come to his house for barbecues while pointing out there’s been no drug testing in the build up to the fight – a sly jab at Gallen’s past when he was involved in Cronulla’s supplements saga in 2011.
“I think my teammates have answered the barbecue question, so I don't think I need to say anything on that and I've got no problem getting drug tested at any stage,” Gallen said, in response.
The former Cronulla Sharks captain shrugged off the verbal sprays as ineffective.
"The thing about Sonny is, he just talks crap. Sonny's a dumb person.
"Sonny's got a manager named Khoder Nasser who says everything for him and I think even tells him when he can breathe."
Gallen added Williams' recent training with IBF Cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia was just another publicity stunt.
"It's another example of insecurity," he said. "Sonny, he needs to surround himself with people to make himself feel better and pump his tyres up. I think it's embarrassing to be honest.
"Jai can't get in the ring and fight for him."
Gallen has been back in camp with his old trainer Graham Shaw and believes they’ll add another win to his 15-2-1 record.
He also believes he'll enjoy how he’ll do it.
"I want to hurt him, I want to knock him out and I think I can by the end of the fight.
"I don't have the one punch power that some boxers can have but I certainly know he doesn't and we all know he doesn't have a good chin.
"So by round six, seven, eight, I'll catch up with him, two minute rounds or not. I'll still get him at some stage and I'll find him and I'll knock him out."
