Q&A: Graham Shaw (Paul Gallen’s trainer)

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By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Sydney-based trainer Graham Shaw, who trains Australia’s biggest pay-per-view boxing attraction Paul Gallen, talks to Fightnews.com® about Gallen’s KO victory over former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne.

Did you train for a KO in round one?

I cannot say I was expecting that, but I told him to go out and win that first round and let him know he’s in a fight. Try and hurt him. That was the plan. It was only a six round fight.

Gallen said he had a premonition that he would score a first round victory. Did he tell you about that?

He never told me about that but he said to me in the ring that after I said to win round one and hurt him – he could see himself knocking Browne out in the first round.

Browne seemed to have no idea how to handle Gallen from the first bell. Your thoughts?

Browne looked unclear how to connect. We planned for Gallen to attack in round one and when he did, we could see Browne was there for the taking.

Paul Gallen is 39 years of age. How much can he improve at that age?

He certainly made a quantum leap in his preparation for the Browne fight. This is the first time he has focused fully on boxing. Getting fit and ready. He never missed a session the whole way through. I reckon he has improved in leaps and bounds just in these preps. He did everything we wanted him to do last night. He kept his hands up and had good movement. He took the opportunities when they were there. I’m real happy with that.

It was the biggest upset in Australian boxing in 2021 for Gallen to KO Browne, a former WBA heavyweight champion.

It’s a massive upset. Browne was 29-2 with 25 KOs. Paul Gallen shouldn’t be beating him. The bookies had Browne a solid favorite but they didn’t see the work Gallen was putting in right the way through.

Will Gallen target fights with Barry Hall, Sonny Bill Williams, and Australian heavyweight champion Justis Huni?

To be honest, I leave that to his manager and Paul. There are some good fights there for him. Those three would be in the mix, there is no doubt about that. I don’t think Sonny Bill would rush into a fight with Paul Gallen now. They were all put on notice. Hall would be a great rematch, but that’s up to Paul. We’ll wait and see. We’re still buzzing from his win over Browne and the way he did it.

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