Paul Gallen has defended himself amid accusations of an illegal punch from Justin Hodges, who last month launched legal action in a bid to overturn his dramatic loss.
The pair met in the ring back in September, with Gallen taking a contentious TKO victory despite Hodges claiming he had been illegally punched while being pushed out over the ropes.
Hodges had support from Australian boxing great Jeff Fenech, who claimed in commentary at the time that he would have won by disqualification if he stayed down.
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“He was pushed over the rope and hit. How illegal is it?” Fenech asked.
With Hodges appealing the decision, Gallen defended himself from criticism when addressing the controversial incident on the Main Event ‘Face Off’ program.
The duo were speaking ahead of next week’s rematch, which will give Hodges a chance to use all the built-up animosity from the controversy inside of the ring.
First though, Hodges maintained he would never have stayed down as Fenech suggested, even if it would have secured him the win.
“That’s not what I’m about,” Hodges said.
“I wouldn’t want to win that way. I’m pretty sure Gal wouldn’t want to win that way. It happened. To be honest, I’m sick of talking about it but like Gal said I hit him late as well but that was the punch that sort of got me. You can see my reaction.”
Gallen was quick to defend himself, claiming that the his punch was legal if considered alongside the referee’s instructions before the fight.
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The former Cronulla Sharks skipper also brought up the fact that Hodges hit him “late”, believing there have been double standards in the lack of focus on that incident.
Here is a full transcript of the pair going at it ahead of next week’s fight.
GALLEN: “No one brings up the fact you hit me late. Everyone wants to go back and bring that point up. Let’s go back to what the referee told me.”
HODGES: “I apologised to you after that. You didn’t apologise after that.”
GALLEN: “I was rocked. You absolutely had me rocked.”
HODGES: “But what about then, you didn’t apologise once.”
GALLEN: “We’re in there fighting each other. Before the fight the referee said, ‘You throw a punch whenever you want to throw a punch. The only time you can’t throw punches is when I call break or when I’m in between you’. There was no break called there.”
HODGES: “I was outside the ring.”
GALLEN: “So what?”
HODGES: “I was about to fall over.”
GALLEN: “That’s not my fault. That’s not my fault.”
HODGES: “You’re not supposed to punch someone who is doing that.
GALLEN: “Why not?”
HODGES: “I’m defenceless. My hands are down like this.”
GALLEN: “Mate, the referee said to me before the fight, ‘You can throw punches whenever you want, as long as I don’t call break and as long as I’m not in between you’. He wasn’t in between us. I threw the punch.”
HODGES: “Of course he wasn’t going to be in between us. How am I supposed to defend myself.”
It was far from the first time the pair have clashed in the lead-up to next week’s fight, with Gallen and Hodges also disagreeing over the rules of their rematch.
