By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Australian heavyweight Paul Gallen (9-0-1, 5 KOs) is in negotiations to clash with UFC star Mark Hunt in what is predicted to be a record pay-per-view contest in Sydney, Australia. Gallen, who retired as a rugby league football star last year, already featured in the biggest televised Australian bout in 2019 when he boxed a six round draw with AFL football star Barry Hall that did record pay-per-view sales.

“I’ve just got a message for my old mate Mark Hunt,” Gallen said. “Mate, you signed your contract today and you’ve released it and made it public. How long did it take you to sign that contract? Three to four weeks, and you’ve made it public today that you’ve signed it and you expect me to make a decision today?

“You know exactly how contracts work, they don’t happen overnight. I’ve had my first conversation with the promoter about 4 o’clock this afternoon, you’ve had three or four weeks to get it done.

“Again, I have to be happy with what I’m going to get, I’m going to jump in the ring with a bloke who’s been knocking blokes out all around the world for 20 years. I’m not going to get in there unless I get what I want.

“As I said, the conversation I had yesterday with the promoter, we are in the ballpark. We’re not far away at all, but I said yesterday, just give me a week to get things sorted. There’s a number of finer details in the contract I need to sort out as far as money and tickets go. There’s a little bit to go, but all in all, it’s positive but it won’t be done this week.”