'F-----g coward': Paul Gallen fires shots at Justis Huni ahead of heavyweight boxing showdown

The pair came face to face during a heated press conference at Sydney's International Convention Centre on Monday leading into Wednesday night's Australian title blockbuster.

Promoter Dean Lonergan says Gallen has "less than zero" chance of upsetting the undefeated gold medal prospect, for whom one bookmaker has already paid out on head to head bets.

But while Lonergan sees 11-0-1 Gallen as the "Eeyore" to 4-0 Huni as "Winx", the former NRL premiership-winning captain has outlined his desire to make sure Huni never makes it to Tokyo.

"They're overlooking me, without a doubt. I've read all their comments," Gallen said.

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"Their No.1 concern is the Olympics. That's their No.1 concern. Well, I'm here to tell all of you - Justis you're included - I'm here to do everything I can to make sure that you don't go to the Olympics.

"Whether it's break your jaw, break your face, break your arm, I don't care what it is. I'm going to bring everything I can to break something in you so that you don't go to the Olympics.

"That dream since you've been seven years old is going to be f----d. I don't care if it's your arm. You're lucky there'll be a referee in there."

Huni laughed off the threat and simply told his counterpart to "bring it, bring it. Bring it on."

But Gallen is adamant he can find a chink in Huni's armour, one four professional opponents to date have failed to find within the supremely talented 22-year-old.

Gallen pointed to the 2019 AIBA world championships in Russia. Huni had reached the semi-finals and was scheduled to face top seed Kamshybek Kunkabayev of Kazakhstan before withdrawing due to illness.

"He's quite before. He got to a championship final and walked off. He said he had a sore stomach, said he had a sore stomach the whole week," Gallen said.

"But you fight every two days leading into that. So what was wrong with your stomach two days before that? Or the previous two days? Or the previous two days? Nothing.

"You make the final and don't fight the final, you f-----g coward. It's like making a grand final and not playing a grand final. You had the chance to fight in a final and you dogged it.

"That's always going to be in you. That's always going to be there. Whether I find it or not, someone will find it one day and I'm determined to find it on Wednesday night.

"All I've got to do is find that chink in the armour and I expose it. The fact it he has quite before, and at some stage he will quit again."

Huni hit back and said the illness which derailed his world championship tilt had sapped him of his energy. And if you want to compare it to a football grand final, "it's different because you can hide behind other players mate, you can't hide in boxing."

Huni's father and trainer Rocki tried to intervene before he too was caught in Gallen's line of fire.

"Rocki, Rocki, you know what the most embarrassing thing is? A father trying to live their failed sporting career through their son," Gallen said.

"So sit there and shut up."

Through it all Huni maintained a measured approach, one he is determined to adopt in the ring when he faces a relentless and remarkably tough opponent in Gallen.

"I've been able to handle all of this pretty good, I just can't wait for Wednesday night. I finally get to go in there and throw hands, and put all the talking aside," Huni said.

"Last time I was here I had a few people asking me to knock his head off, knock him out. Once again I'm going to come out and box, and then if the opportunity is there to end the fight, I'm definitely going to jump on it this time.

"We'll just wait until Wednesday night and we'll get it done, put the talking behind us."

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