Kangaroos Camp Prepares for Gallen vs Asofa-Solomona Showdown

The Kangaroos are meant to be thinking about Samoa. Instead, on the eve of a World Cup semi-final, half the Australian squad is arguing over who’s going to win a heavyweight street fight dressed up as a boxing main event.

Paul Gallen vs Nelson Asofa-Solomona has cut straight through camp boredom and into the team WhatsApp. It’s split the room, sparked side bets and, for a few of them, created a genuine dilemma: which mate do you walk to the ring?

Kangaroos Camp Turns Fight Club

Earlier in the week, Latrell Mitchell pulled out his phone and threw the question to the squad on Instagram: Gal or Big Nasty?

The responses came back fast. And loud.

When the tally was done, Gallen held the edge – nine votes to four – with some of the Kangaroos tipping not just the winner but the round. Reece Walsh and Cam Murray both went the same way: the 45-year-old ex-Blues captain to finish the giant in the fourth and walk away with a $1 million bounty.

Bradman Best led another cluster in Gallen’s corner, hanging his prediction on one thing: experience. This is the man who has already shared a ring with Justis Huni, Mark Hunt and Lucas Browne. He’s been hit by real heavyweights and kept getting up. That matters to footballers who know what it’s like to be punched in the mouth for a living.

Not everyone is buying the veteran story, though.

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui didn’t hesitate. “Big Nasty, the uso, gonna smash him,” the Kangaroos forward declared, planting his flag firmly with the 140kg Melbourne Storm enforcer.

Harry Grant and Cam Munster followed him into NAS’s corner, as did Isaah Yeo. For the Storm boys, loyalty runs deep. They’ve seen Asofa-Solomona up close when he’s angry. They know what that looks like.

Mitchell himself, along with a small group of teammates, is pushing to be at the TikTok Entertainment Centre in person. As late as Friday morning, there were whispers from inside camp of players wanting to be part of the ring walks, turning this crossover event into an unofficial Kangaroos sideshow.

Ringside, Australian boxing stars Tim Tszyu and Liam Paro will be watching it all unfold, too. The rugby league world is turning up in numbers.

The Punch That’s Got Team NAS Talking

Inside Asofa-Solomona’s camp, confidence has hardened into something closer to certainty.

Fox Sports Australia has learned the towering former New Zealand Test prop flattened a sparring partner in camp with a single, savage straight right. Not a looping haymaker, not a wild swing. A textbook, piston-like right hand that ended the session on the spot.

His team have quietly circled that punch as the one that can end Gallen’s night as well. Same shot. Same result. That’s the script they’re backing.

And they’re not alone. The bout is only scheduled for five rounds, which suits a man who weighs close to 140kg and has made a career out of short, violent bursts of destruction.

Gallen Bites Back: ‘He Thinks He’s Muhammad Ali’

If Asofa-Solomona’s camp is leaning into power, Gallen is leaning into needle.

All week, the NSW Origin great has chipped away at NAS, accusing him of trying to play Muhammad Ali in their face-offs.

“Every time we face off, he’s been coming up with some sort of rhyme,” Gallen said. “The other day it was something about beating me in three, it seems he’s really big on them at the moment. The guy thinks he’s Muhammad Ali.”

Gallen’s not impressed by poetry. Or by size.

“I’ve survived at 5’10’’ for 25 years,” he shrugged, referencing a career spent belting and being belted in the NRL. Growing up in western Sydney, he says he’s seen men like Nelson his whole life.

“Big guys who’ve been very tough for small amounts of time. That’s Nelson.

“Because while he may be big and strong, I know that when push comes to shove, and he really gets tested, he won’t be there. And that’s why I’m going to be constantly harassing him. On him like a rash.”

That’s the game plan in one sentence: drag the giant into deep water and keep punching.

Age, Engine and the Shire Machine

The obvious counterpoint is the birth certificate. Gallen is 45. Asofa-Solomona is 30. In heavyweight boxing, those 15 years usually scream mismatch.

Gallen’s camp doesn’t see it that way.

Justin Lang, the Shire-based exercise physiologist who has overseen Gallen’s conditioning for years, insists the former Cronulla captain is still operating frighteningly close to his peak.

“Right now, Gal would be less than eight per cent off what was his mark at his peak,” Lang said. “He’s just unrelenting. He also has a mindset that his competitors don’t … it’s why he wins more often than not.”

Lang says NRL players still wander into his gym and find themselves chasing the retired forward in conditioning drills. That’s the foundation for the belief that Gallen can outlast a younger, much bigger man who’s never had to box for sustained periods under pressure.

In the Gallen corner, the equation is simple: if his chin holds and his gas tank is as advertised, the old pro breaks the big man down.

NAS and the DMs: ‘Please Do a Job on Him’

Asofa-Solomona has his own fuel.

Speaking to media earlier in the week, the former Kiwi Test prop claimed his inbox has been flooded by people with a very specific request.

“There’s been so many people jumping in my DMs,” NAS said. “People who’ve played with Gal, people who’ve played against him, even people who have worked with him in the past.

“They’ve been telling me all these stories about him. Saying ‘yeah, bro, like please do a job on him’ …”

Asked what those stories were about, Asofa-Solomona was coy.

“I can’t say too much, [but] it’s stuff to do with money. Bits and pieces. He’s just grown up in a different area. Is a different cat. And now the new era is here.”

Pushed on whether those messages came from former Cronulla and NSW Origin names, NAS just grinned.

“They’re the only two teams he’s played for...”

True or not, it’s added another layer to a fight already loaded with personal stakes. For NAS, this isn’t just a sideshow during the off-season. It’s a chance to flatten a man some in the game, apparently, would happily see knocked cold.

Weigh-In Drama Saves a Key Undercard Bout

Away from the heavyweight circus, the undercard had its own flashpoint.

Lightweight rivals Ahmad Reda and Jake Wyllie were in danger of losing their spot on the card when Wyllie came in at 63.18kg on Thursday – almost 2kg over the agreed limit.

Reda didn’t hold back, labelling the miss “embarrassing” and vowing to knock Wyllie out anyway. For a few hours, the bout hung by a thread.

No Limit boss George Rose stepped in and brokered a deal: the fight could go ahead if both men returned to the scales on Friday morning, with Wyllie required to be no heavier than 67.6kg.

Wyllie made the mark. The fight was saved. Another grudge match stays on the schedule.

The Stage, the Stakes, the Card

By the time the main card starts at the TikTok Entertainment Centre, the place will be loaded with current Kangaroos, ex-players, and some of the sharpest eyes in Australian boxing.

Prelims from 5pm feature Kya Sparks vs Zidane Tavares, Alex Naman vs Zain Adams and Jayden Fadel vs Rajesh Kumar.

From 7pm, the main card rolls out:

• Paul Gallen vs Nelson Asofa-Solomona – Heavyweight (5 rounds)
• Callum Peters vs Juan Diego Ortiz – Middleweight (10 rounds)
• Ahmad Reda vs Jake Wyllie – Lightweight (10 rounds)
• Paulo Aokuso vs Mobin Khahrazeh – Light Heavyweight (10 rounds)
• Blair Geraghty vs Peter Lee – Super Lightweight (6 rounds)

It’s a serious night of fights, but make no mistake: everything is building towards Gallen and NAS.

One is a 45-year-old warhorse who has made a second career out of defying logic and punching above his weight. The other is a 140kg wrecking ball, fresh from knocking out a sparring partner and convinced the new era belongs to him.

The Kangaroos have made their picks. The DMs have been sent. The rhymes have been delivered.

Now it comes down to one question: when the bell rings and the giant finally gets dragged into a place he’s never been before, who’s still standing in the middle of the ring?