Paul Gallen has thrown one last verbal uppercut at Justin Huni before their heavyweight blockbuster in Sydney, accusing the 22-year-old of running scared and failing in his duties to promote Australian boxing.
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A day after pledging to break his jaw, face or arm - "whatever it takes" - to shatter Huni's Tokyo Olympics dream, Gallen declared the undefeated Australian champion out of his depth on the big stage.
Despite being a massive underdog with bookmakers and weighing in 7kg lighter on Tuesday, Gallen vowed to knock out Huni to remain unbeaten himself in 13 professional fights.
"I'm so far in his head it's not funny. He says I'm not but I know I am," Gallen said after taking aim at Huni for not fronting up on NRL360 to promote the fight.
"He can't handle the pressure at the moment.
"Whether he can handle it in the ring or not remains to be seen but there's no doubt he's really struggling with the pressure of the build-up to this.
"You can just see in his actions, see in his body, his facial expressions, just the way he talks.
"Look, I know he's just a young guy and he's not used to the media but he's been fighting for a long time, travelling the world, fighting all around the place.
"If he can't handle the pressure I'm putting on him in the media, how's he supposed to handle the pressure of an Olympics Games?
"They say he's a future world champion, how's he going to handle the pressure of that? How's he going to handle the pressure of being here in front of three or four thousand people tomorrow night?"
Gallen said Huni was nothing but a puppet for his trash-talking promoter Dean Lonergan and trainer-father Rocki, dubbing his media no-show as "disgraceful".
"He's happy to roll up to the Queensland Origin team's training 'sessions and fawn himself there and get exposure there," said the rugby league great.
"He doesn't show up at Townsville (for Origin I) cos he says he wants to spar seven days out from this fight.
"He could spar eight days eight and make a sacrifice to promote the fight and to also support the Queensland Origin team.
"They just do whatever to suit them and their behaviour is so selfish. He does nothing for Australian boxing."
Huni said he couldn't care less about Gallen's baiting antics.
"He's right, I have been thinking about him but that's just me thinking about him laying on the canvas, face down," Huni said.
"He can say whatever he wants. I had plans (last night) and that's that. If he's got a problem with it, he can sort it out tomorrow night."
Australian Associated Press
