Gallen quits boxing after beating Sonny Bill Williams in bout
Photo:
PHOTOSPORT
Sonny Bill Williams won't get a rematch after Paul Gallen has announced his retirement from all sport following his
split points win over Williams
in their boxing bout in Sydney last night.
The former Australian league legend was adjudged the winner by a single point, with two judges giving him the bout and another scoring in favour of Williams.
After much mud-slinging between the pair before the fight, they shook hands afterwards, with Williams offering the chance for a post-bout coffee.
"I'm just so happy it's over. That's it, that's my sporting career done," Gallen said after the fight.
"I'm really relieved it's over and have come away with a victory which is what we intended to do."
The 10-year animosity between the pair had been so deep that Gallen had said he wouldn't shake hands with Williams, but he did so as soon as the fight was over.
Paul Gallen is declared winner by split decision following his main event boxing match against Sonny Bill Williams at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Wednesday, July 16, 2025.
Photo:
Photosport
Gallen said he was impressed by Williams' gesture of reconciliation and would take up the coffee invite.
"You've got to respect a man for that.
"What has happened is in the past. I am 44 years old in less than a month and I'm too old to be having gripes with other grown men.
"I'm happy to break bread with him and he said do you want to have coffee, and I said 'yeah'.''
Williams declined interviews after the bout, but his supporters were critical of the verdict.
Two judges gave the fight to Gallen with 77-74 and 76-75 margins, while a third scored in favour of Williams, 77-74, leaving Gallen the victor by a point.
A crucial factor was referee Les Fear deducting a point from Williams in the seventh round for persistent holding.
Former super-middleweight world champion boxer Anthony Mundine called the result "ridiculous'', believing that Williams had won six rounds to two.
"It just takes away from everything when you put so much hard work and dedication into a fight when you come off not the winner and you really did win,'' Mundine told Stuff.
"He outboxed him. Boxing is hit and not be hit. Look at his face, that tells the story."
Gallen said he was nervous about the verdict, after feeling he definitely lost two rounds.
"At the end of the day I got the win, that's what we came here to do. There's no point in whinging or carrying on about it, I won and that's all that matters.''
Gallen said Williams' point deduction for persisent holding was deserved. "It was pretty clear he was holding me."
But he said he was happy to end the grudge against Williams.
"I don't know him very well, I don't him at all to be honest. But I have seen him with his kids and I know he is a fantastic father and highly devoted to his religion so you have to respect him for that."
In one of the lead-up bouts, double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kiwi David Nyika had a fifth-round TKO win over compatriot Nikolas Charalampous.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
12 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Wallabies lose two hookers ahead of Lions finale
The Wallabies have been forced to call Brandon Paenga-Amosa into the team for the final test against the British & Irish Lions after hookers Dave Porecki and Matt Faessler picked up injuries in training. Porecki, who started last week's second test, suffered a heel injury and Faessler, who started the first, picked up a calf issue in training on Thursday. Billy Pollock moves up from the replacements to start in place of Porecki on Saturday, while Paenga-Amosa will come off the bench as the Wallabies look to grab a consolation win after losing the first two tests. Captain Harry Wilson said the team had great faith in the powerful Paenga-Amosa, who played the last of his 20 tests against Ireland last November. "Brandon joined us yesterday afternoon after a bit of a tough Thursday training session, it's obviously gutting to lose great players in Porecki and Fez," the No 8 told reporters at Stadium Australia on Friday. "But we've got a lot of confidence in BPA, he's been around this group for quite a long time over the last year and he's already faced the Lions three times. So he's got a lot of confidence and ... he has fit in very quickly." Paenga-Amosa, who faced the Lions in tour matches for Western Force, the Australia-New Zealand selection and the First Nations-Pasifika XV, will bring power to the front row but his lineout throwing has sometimes been wayward. Coach Joe Schmidt had already been forced into three changes to his team by injuries but Wilson said it had been good to have fresh faces Taniela Tupou and Dylan Pietsch in the matchday squad. "What they've given us is fresh legs on the training park, fresh energy, more chatter around the training field. Just been nice and they're just raring to go," he said. "They've had to watch the last two test matches so they're all very excited at this opportunity and I've got no doubt they'll take it." The fourth change Schmidt made in his initial selection was a call-up for Nic White, who announced on Thursday that he would be retiring from test rugby after Saturday's match. The Wallabies players all wore fake moustaches at Friday's training session in honour of the scrumhalf's famously hairy upper lip. "He's a competitor, and he's loved by the group," Wilson said. "He will be missed in this gold jersey, because he really does represent what it is to be a Wallaby." Wilson admitted the players had been crushed after losing the second test to a last-minute try last Saturday but spirits had risen during the week. "We just want to keep improving. We want to keep being a better team. We need to play an 80-minute game and get the result which I think we deserve for each other." Lions searching for best performance The Lions will empty the tank in search of a complete performance they've been seeking throughout the tour on Saturday, assistant coach John Dalziel said. The test series is already sewn up with Lions victories in Brisbane and Melbourne, but going into the tour finale in Sydney the tourists still feel they have not played their best rugby. Scotland forwards coach Dalziel said the squad were naturally tired after two months on the road but also determined to bid farewell to Australia with a 10th win and an 80-minute performance. "Well for us it's the only way to end this now, isn't it?" he told reporters at Stadium Australia. "We don't want anything to derail it. We know it's going to be incredibly hard work. It'll be more wet playing here. So we have just got to find that energy and go again and get that performance that we all want." Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong would have more cause than many to feel fatigued having played in six of the nine matches so far in one of the most demanding positions on the park. The determination of the Lions to close out the tour in style means the 32-year-old will suit up again for his sixth start of the tour, and his last in a Lions shirt. In doing so, Furlong will match Wales lock Alun Wyn Jones' record of nine consecutive Lions test starts going back to the series opener against the All Blacks in 2017. "It is a little bit emotional, the Lions have played a massive part in my career," the tighthead told reporters on Thursday. "It has shaped the way I play the game and think about the game. I know this Lions tour will be me closing the book on the Lions. I don't want it to end. It is a special thing to be a Lion." Australia Revised team: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Andrew Kellaway
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
Injury stricken Warriors squad to take on Dolphins
An injury stricken Warriors will try to shake off the cobwebs when they take on the Dolphins at home game comes off the back of a disappointing loss to the Gold Coast Titans last week who are currently second-to-last on the NRL table. While the Warriors are still in the top four, a loss could be a major hit for the team's championship ambitions. Sports reporter Jamie Wall spoke to Lisa Owen. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
20 hours ago
- RNZ News
Rugby: Joe Schmidt says pilloried Carlo Tizzano's ruck recoil was involuntary
Joe Schmidt has made four changes to Wallabies starting line-up. Photo: JOEL CARRETT / PHOTOSPORT Australia coach Joe Schmidt said Carlo Tizzano's reaction to the contentious clear-out by British & Irish Lions forward Jac Morgan in last week's second test was not voluntary but the result of the amount of force he was subjected to. Morgan's clear-out came at a ruck just before the Lions scored a match-winning try last week in Melbourne and the Welshman's action was cleared by referee Andrea Piardi after reference to the television match official (TMO). Tizzano was pilloried online for recoiling away from the ruck with his hands to his head after the contact, with some former players likening his reaction to a football player diving for a penalty. Schmidt, though, said it was simply a matter of physics. "He's had a really tough week, Carlo, he's copped a lot of online abuse," the former schoolteacher told reporters on Thursday. "There were just over 54Gs of direct force that went through the neck, along with almost 2200 [radians] of rotational force, which is enough to cause serious injury. "I think we're all aware of Newton's third law, that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction when that force hits him and the speed of his head collapsing down. "He recoiled out the back of the ruck. And I don't think he wanted to recoil like that, but that's the nature of force, that there's an equal and opposite reaction." Schmidt left Tizzano out of his team for Saturday's third test after he turned up sore at training on Tuesday, although he said the 25-year-old had returned to his normal "irrepressible" self by Thursday. The New Zealander made it clear after last week's match that he felt the clear-out was illegal and said it made a mockery of World Rugby's campaign for player safety. That did not go down well with World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin but on Thursday Schmidt said he wanted to put it in the past and look forward to Saturday's dead-rubber third test in Sydney. "We've got a test in 48 hours, and you can lament all sorts of things," he said. "I actually feel like Andrea Piardi had a good game, there's a couple of decisions we might not agree with, but I thought he refereed well. "So we're not looking at refereeing decisions, we're looking at what we could have done better, making sure that we try to repair those things." Rob Valetini will also miss the third test but halfback Nic White has been given a chance to sign off his international career as the Wallabies look to avoid a series sweep. Flanker Valetini, who missed the first test with a calf injury, was outstanding as Australia took an early 23-5 lead in last week's second test but is being "managed" ahead of two matches against the Springboks in South Africa. "He's not right this week," Schmidt said. "[The calf] just tightened up so... it's probably precautionary not playing him this week." Valetini will be replaced in the back row by Tom Hooper, one of four changes to the starting line-up from the second test. Tighthead Allan Alaalatoa suffered a shoulder injury last week that could rob the Wallabies of one of their leaders for the rest of the season. Taniela "Tongan Thor" Tupou brings his considerable bulk into the front row in Alaalatoa's place for his first appearance of the series. "We saw him in the First Nations-Pasifika game and I thought he really worked hard there," said Schmidt. "So we're hopeful that Taniela can continue that upswing and bring us a real burst of energy." Dylan Pietsch will start on the left wing for Harry Potter, who was taken off with a hamstring injury after 20 minutes last week. White's inclusion at halfback for Jake Gordon was not enforced but gives the 35-year-old a chance to win a 73rd cap before standing down from test rugby, a decision he announced earlier on Thursday. "Whitey's got such massive respect inside the squad that it seemed a fitting way for him to finish," said Schmidt. "And I'm not a sentimentalist, it's a test match, and you pick people who are capable of playing that test match, and we believe that Nick is." Schmidt has reverted to a 5-3 split in favour of the forwards on the bench, bringing outside back Andrew Kellaway back into the matchday squad for Tizzano. British & Irish Lions coach Andy Farrell has made only two changes to his starting team with his sights firmly focused on sealing a 3-0 series sweep. Hugo Keenan of the Lions reacts after scoring a try to win the second test against the Wallabies in Melbourne. Photo: Photosport With the series already won after last week's victory in Melbourne, Farrell resisted the temptation to give squad players a run and said he had selected a team he thought was best able to finish the tour with a third test win. "It would mean the world to us, it's something that we promised ourselves that we were going to chase after," he told a news conference on Thursday. "It's a big ask, but it's something that we're determined to do. This is the best 23 to take the group forward." Blair Kinghorn, who missed the first test because of a knee injury, replaces James Lowe on the left wing as he did during last week's win in Melbourne, while James Ryan starts in the second row in place of Ollie Chessum. Chessum drops to the bench, where Ben Earl comes in as back row cover alongside Jac Morgan with Farrell opting for a 6-2 split in favour of the forwards for what is forecast to be a wet weather test at Stadium Australia. The starting back row and halfback pairing remain the same for the third consecutive match, while Tadhg Furlong will start his ninth straight Lions test in the front row. "It's amazing," Farrell said of the Irish prop. "It's been well documented how much he loves playing for the Lions... and it isn't just the performances that have been through the roof, it's also his manner on a Lions tour as well. "I've never seen him in such good spirits, so he's ready to go again." Captain Maro Itoje will start his eighth straight Lions test having played the first match of the 2017 series in New Zealand off the bench. "Look at the quality of player they are," Farrell said. "Look at the standing that they have with any group that they represent. Those two lads epitomise what it takes to be a top level international player." Wallabies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson, -13.9Craser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 David Porecki, 1 James Slipper. Bench: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Andrew Kellaway. British & Irish Lions : 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Blair Kinghorn, -12.2Cinn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter Bench: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Owen Farrell. - Reuters
