Dean Lonergan heard Paul Gallen threatened to walk away from a mega payday and an Australian heavyweight title shot against Justis Huni.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But the thing is, "Paul loves a dollar way too much to walk away from the highest payday of his life".
So much so that "he would fight at the bottom of a Mount Isa mine with Wally Lewis as the referee, Mal Meninga heading the judging panel, with Trevor Gillmeister and Allan Langer as the other two judges, with the money he will make from this fight".
Leading boxing promoter Lonergan is trying to lock in a venue for Gallen's heavyweight showdown with prodigiously talented Olympic Games gold medal hopeful Huni on June 16.
Gallen is adamant he won't fight anywhere but Sydney, however Lonergan is in talks with venues in the NSW capital, Brisbane and the Gold Coast to make the fight happen.
MORE SPORT
Huni must first get through Christian Tsoye on May 26 in a potentially risky bout just three weeks before his showdown with Gallen. The fight will take place inside a Fox Sports studio, as has been done overseas, with 36 people in attendance.
But Lonergan says that risk is nothing compared to the one Gallen takes next month.
"Paul Gallen is either the bravest man in Australia, or the stupidest, and I think it's a combination of both," Lonergan said.
"The simple fact of the matter is on June 16, he is going to find out what it's like to be in with a real boxer; not one who hasn't fought in 20 years [as a boxer], as was the case with Mark Hunt, who hadn't fought in three or four years in the UFC; not one who hadn't fought in two years like Lucas Browne.
"He's going in with a young guy who is hungry, who is the current Australian heavyweight champ, and who has done what nobody has done in 120 years, and that's come out the amateurs to win a national title.
"The unfortunate thing for Paul Gallen, is not only will Justis' exceptional boxing ability and boxing IQ count against him, what will also count against him is the fact Justis is yet to develop all of his power.
"That means Gallen is probably going to withstand the punishment he takes for anywhere from three, to four, to five rounds. As a result he is going to be mercilessly chopped down. He won't get knocked out in round one or two, he is going to take this beating over a long period of time as Justis develops his power.
"This is going to be the worst of all worlds for Paul Gallen. It's fair to say Paul Gallen is in a whole lot of trouble."
Lonergan is keen to have rising star Brock Jarvis feature in the co-main event while unbeaten middleweight Issac Hardman could also feature on the card.
As for his main event duo, he expects they will both be making trips to Canberra to spar with Arsene Fosso.
Both have sparred with Fosso before, while Huni and Fosso fought in December. But there's another name Lonergan thinks would prove a handy training partner.
"Who knows, maybe even Josh Papalii will step up to do a little bit of sparring with Justis and Paul. Maybe that will help him get on track with what's going on at the Raiders at the moment," Lonergan said.