Paul Gallen has slammed his upcoming opponent Kris Terzievski for a perceived lack of interest in promoting their Australasian title fight, branding the Victorian a “softc–k” and labelling him a quitter.
Gallen, along with fellow boxers Harry Garside, Nikita Tszyu and Sam Goodman, fronted the media at Bondi Boxing Club in Waterloo ahead of next week’s card in Newcastle.
But Gallen’s opponent was conspicuous by his absence.
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“He’s done nothing,” Gallen told reporters after his sparring session on Wednesday.
“It’s his time to shine, it’s his time to get his name in the sun … and he won’t even show up for media commitments.”
The 40-year-old premiership-winning captain expanded on his comments afterwards, telling Wide World of Sports that he had no idea why Terzievski wasn’t doing more to talk up next week’s bout.
“We’ve all got things we have to do, but he wants to be a boxer and he won’t show up to promote the fight,” he said.
“Look at Sam, look at Nikita, look at Harry – they’re all here. We’ve all got things to do.
“Boxing people always complain about the lack of support, the lack of publicity they get – and look at the media here. There’s as much media here as there would be at an NRL game, and he hasn’t shown up.
“That’s just dumb – it’s literally dumb, it’s purely dumb. There’s not much else I can say about it. They want publicity, they want promotion, but they won’t turn up and do it – and whose fault is that?”
Gallen goes into the fight as a very short favourite, but knows that his opponent is more than capable with the gloves, regardless of his media abilities.
“I’ve seen some of his fights. He’s a good boxer, he’s very fast – but he’s got quit in him somewhere, I know he does. In his one loss, he quit,” he said.
“I’ve got to find that on the night and when I do, he’ll quit.”
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