On the day he fights Paul Gallen, Ben Hannant will first go to work at 5.30am.
Same as this Queensland Origin favourite, a fella who now fronts breakfast shifts on Gold Coast radio, is also promising to be back on deck the morning after said stoush, too.
“Although Friday we’ve got a live broadcast down the coast,” Hannant says, grinning. “So I have to get myself to Robina Town Centre and ready for 5.30am.”
Reckon you’ll be good to go that early?
“It’s no big deal,” he insists.
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Really?
“Right now my alarm goes off at 3.20am,” Hannant continues of his preparation for the unique fight night that sees both himself and fellow Maroon Justin Hodges throwing down against Gallen.
“That way, by four o’clock every morning I’m running in the gym. And within 30 minutes of that, sparring.
“Then I go to work, and back to the gym again in the afternoons to train.”
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Despite Gallen threatening to “seriously kill” Hannant in this Thursday night’s heavyweight boxing showdown, the now 37-year-old carries a confidence that belies his total of just two fights – against fellow footballers Josh Papalii and Hodges.
Ironically, it is now Hannant and Hodges who are both booked to fight Gallen on the same night — a unique scenario which, by his own admission, the fighter dubbed Polar Bear has spent just four weeks preparing for.
“I’ve literally done 12 weeks boxing my entire life,” he reveals.
“Four weeks before fighting Papalii, four weeks for Hodgo and now four weeks for Gal.
“So realistically, he should kill me.”
Which, um, isn’t exactly your traditional fight pitch, right?
“I don’t care what Gal says,” Hannant continues of the kill sledge. “Or what anybody thinks will happen.
“People can say what they like.
“I know there are people who think I’m crazy. People who’ve told me not to do this.
“But in life, everyone is presented with impossible tasks.
“Yet so many people, they run from them. Won’t take them on.
“Which isn’t to say I’m better than anyone else — I’m not.
“But we all have greatness in us.
“And it comes down to these moments where there is high risk and high rewards.
“In those situations, you either run from the fear, hide from the fear, or you face that fear head on … that’s when greatness can happen.”
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Asked if he sought out the showdown with Gallen, whose professional record reads 12-2-1, Hannant continues: “Did I go looking for this fight? Not one bit.
“This fight, it got thrown at me.
“And initially, I said ‘no’.
“Because the money wasn’t right. (The offer) was ridiculous considering the calibre of fighter Gallen is.
“But eventually when the conditions were made right, I said yes.
“But still, I’m not kidding myself.
“I know Gallen’s more experienced than me. A better fighter than me.
“But when I was a young kid, I had teachers and footy coaches saying ‘you will never, ever make it to the NRL … you’ll have to find something else’.
“But I proved them wrong.”
Just as he plans to do again Thursday.
“When you play rugby league (at the elite level), you go to war,” Hannant says.
“What’s the risk? You get knocked out.
“Same here.
“So people can say what they like.
“At the end of the day, the only people who have a say in what goes on Thursday night are myself and Paul Gallen. That’s it.”
