‘I won’t shake his hand’: In a sport full of confected hate, SBW-Gallen feud is very real

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The prelude to a hyped boxing event can, in sheer entertainment terms, sometimes rival what happens in the ring.

Two rivals, whether seeking to land a psychological blow or profit from their percentage of the pay-per-view takings, take it upon themselves to sell the event. Seldom do the punches drip with the same level of venom as the words and, when it is all over, the victor and the vanquished are able to leave their past there.

But every now and then, the wait can be so long and the words so personal that, even after the final bell, it’s not possible to offer a gloved hand.

That is the case with Paul Gallen and Sonny Bill Williams.

“No. Absolutely not. I’m not going to shake his hand,” Gallen says. “At the end of the day, people might say it’s a bad reflection on me or a bad sign of sportsmanship, but some of the things he’s done are pretty ordinary, too.

“It’s oil and water, it doesn’t mix. We don’t like each other anyway. What’s the point of being fake?

There is no love lost between Paul Gallen and Sonny Bill Williams.

“I’m not a fake person. If someone comes up to me that I don’t like and puts their hand out to shake it, what’s the point? Just to be a good sport? No. There’s a time in life where you need to be a real person and real adult. That’s me.

“I won’t shake his hand if I don’t want to.”

The news comes as no surprise to Williams.

“He said he isn’t going to shake my hand and I couldn’t give two flying f’s, to tell the truth,” Williams counters.

“I don’t have hate for anyone, I’m a pretty cruisy guy. But at the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m one to stand up for myself and what I believe in, 150 per cent. That’s my path.

Paul Gallen prepares for one last hurrah before retirement.

“You don’t want to shake my hand, I don’t give two damns. But I’m going to win this fight.”

After more than a decade of false starts, Williams and Gallen will finally enter the ring at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday night. The fight will be held over eight two-minute rounds – another point of contention – with each expected to walk away with an even split of about $1 million each.

The one thing the former footballers agree on is that this will be their final fight; one last hurrah before retiring. Already they have registered low blows, delighting in digging up each other’s drugs dramas: Gallen’s involvement in Cronulla’s peptides scandal, dubbed the “blackest day in Australian sport”; Williams’ admission that he dabbled in illicit substances early in his league career.

Sonny Bill Williams had plenty to say on about Paul Gallen’s past in the lead up to their fight.

Their first face-off will be at a press conference on Monday, although both have thrown barbs from afar. When Williams finally gets the chance to stare down his opponent, what does he expect to see?

“I see a fraud, that’s what I see,” he says. “I see a guy who would argue with a five-year-old kid to prove his point. We just don’t mix; he’s not my cup of tea. He never has been, never will be.

“The only difference is he has a track record of making it personal with every fight he’s had. For me, it’s the first time it’s felt like a real fight, not a sports event.

“I’ve got to get through the next couple of days, listen to him talk trash, say things to try to rile me up. But the reality is the one who has been riled up the most is him. He doesn’t like the facts that have been pointed out that the media cover up. This guy is a drug cheat.

Paul Gallen during his loss to Justis Huni.

“He’s in the NSW hall of fame. What for? For the longest losing streak? [A reference to his stint as NSW Origin skipper].

“This is not a good human being, and he’s the one trying to come to me and give a moral lesson. No thank you.

“The next few days can’t pass fast enough. I just want to get to fight night and show him how limited he is.”

Both men have been able to parlay their feats and notoriety into a mammoth payday. Neither pretends to be world-class, but both can hold up their hands. Williams was once the New Zealand heavyweight champion and briefly a WBA titleholder, while Gallen’s only losses, against the credentialled Justin Huni and Kris Terzievski, gained him the most respect from the purists.

Sonny Bill Williams believes he has Paul Gallen’s measure.

Their boxing legacy will be bringing new eyeballs to a sport, with promoters hoping that record numbers will tune in when their stoush is shown live and exclusively on Stan which, like this masthead, is owned by Nine Entertainment.

To date, Gallen’s most famous punch was delivered on the footy field, to the head of Nate Myles during the 2013 State of Origin series. It remains to be seen whether he can land a more memorable blow on Williams.

“That would be nice,” Gallen says. “I’m not proud of that [Myles punch]. I’d much rather have won the series than throw a punch.”

Some bookmakers haven’t been able to split the pair. At 39, Williams is four years younger and has a decided reach advantage. Gallen’s challenge will be finding enough time within the allotted 16 minutes to get close enough to land meaningful blows from close range.

“I win because I have the better skill set, and I’ve gone a long way in correcting what happened last fight,” Williams says of the only blemish on his professional record, a KO loss to Mark Hunt.

“What the bloke in the last fight had, this bloke doesn’t have – true knockout power. Paul doesn’t have that.”

There will be no secret to Gallen’s approach. Just like he did on the footy field, the former NSW and Cronulla skipper will keep marching forward.

“Sonny Bill and his coaches would have gone into games hoping he would play well, hoping he would find a flick pass or make a break or score a try,” Gallen says.

“My coach never had to worry about that, they always knew what they were going to get. That’s what is going to happen in this fight. He knows I’m going to be in front of him. There’s no secret to this fight, what I’m going to do, how I’m going to fight. He knows I’m going to be there.

“Is he good enough to knock me out? I don’t think he is. I’m going to be relentless and I’ll wear him out.”

All the action in a stacked SBW v Gallen card will be streaming live and exclusive on Stan Pay-Per-View on Wednesday 16 July.