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Nicho Hynes delivered a cheeky sledge to stir the pot.
“Tell him you want to fight Nelson. Tell him how bad you want him,” the Cronulla playmaker yelled in Paul Gallen’s direction after a gruelling training session at Shark Park.
Gallen’s response would suggest he is ready, willing and able to go where few others would dare, providing the price is right.
The 44-year-old warhorse might have declared he was officially retired after beating arch-rival Sonny Bill Williams in July, but he has never been known to shy away from a challenge, nor a lucrative payday, and Nelson Asofa-Solomona would undoubtedly provide both.
Asofa-Solomona, the former Melbourne Storm enforcer, announced at the end of last season that he was taking a break from rugby league, and soon afterwards signed a multi-year deal to fight for promoter No Limit Boxing.
The towering 29-year-old launched his new career in formidable style with a crushing first-round knockout win a fortnight ago over one of Gallen’s former teammates, Jeremy Latimore.
Paul Gallen said his fight with Sonny Bill Williams was his last.Credit: Tim Bauer
He had previously stopped former Brisbane, Gold Coast, Dolphins and Queensland prop Jarrod Wallace just as ruthlessly in a three-round exhibition bout in 2023.
After his demolition of Latimore, “Big Nasty” declared: “I want to clean up the whole NRL division, and then we can go from there.”
Gallen might yet have something to say about that.
The veteran of 19 professional bouts (16 wins, two losses and a draw) certainly didn’t rule it out when asked if he was interested in a heavyweight showdown with Asofa-Solomona, a long-time rival on the rugby league field.
“No Limit know the deal with me,” Gallen said.
“I get on pretty well with them, so they know the deal with me … No Limit know my number. They know my situation. I’ll just leave it at that.”
The former Sharks and NSW Origin skipper, and Kangaroos vice-captain added: “There’s just no point talking about it unless you’re going to come to me with a big cheque. So it’s not at the forefront of my mind, that’s for sure.”
Nelson Asofa-Solomona after his KO win against Jeremy Latimore.Credit: Getty Images
He noted Asofa-Solomona’s performance against Latimore but warned the former Kiwi international that greater challenges lie ahead.
“Good luck to Nelson,” he said. “He’s doing pretty well. Good luck to him … being able to punch that hard, yeah, he’s got a lot of potential there, that’s for sure.
“But Nelson’s test will come later on.”
Asked if he could beat Asofa-Solomona, who outweighs him by 23 kilograms and stands 20 centimetres taller, Gallen replied with a chuckle: “I don’t have any fight going in there to lose.”
No Limit boss George Rose, however, has suggested discretion is the better part of valour for Gallen, saying in a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia: “I don’t think it’s something Gal could handle … because in my eyes, anyone stepping in front of big Nelson is getting knocked out cold.”
Before any negotiations with No Limit could kick off, Gallen would presumably need to talk his wife, Anne, around, after revealing in the lead-up to the SBW fight that she had told him: “If you even think about fighting again, we’re getting divorced.”
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Gallen said after beating Williams that he was finished fighting and ready to “get on with life”.
“That’s it, that’s my sporting career done,” he said.
The renowned fitness fanatic has stayed in good shape, however, as he showed by joining players 25 years younger than him during a Cronulla conditioning session last week.
He reportedly earned $1 million to fight Williams.
Asofa-Solomona said in the lead-up to his stoush with Latimore that he would refrain from calling Gallen out, before adding: “I know there would be a lot of hype around any fight between us, and we could both make some decent money from it.”
Over to you, No Limit.
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