Paul Gallen Comes Out of Retirement to Face Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Paul Gallen is coming out of retirement again – and this time he’s chasing a giant.
The former Cronulla Sharks premiership captain will fight ex-Melbourne Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona in Sydney on Friday, November 6, stepping back through the ropes to face the 200-centimetre Kiwi knockout artist under the No Limit banner.
The bout was confirmed on Nine’s Today on Tuesday morning, barely a month after Gallen publicly torched Asofa-Solomona and No Limit Boxing for leaking details of negotiations and, in his view, lowballing him on the purse. Gallen has long made it clear he won’t glove up again for anything less than a massive payday – it’s believed he was chasing at least $1 million guaranteed, though he refused to put a figure on it when speaking to nine.com.au.
Money, though, is only part of the story. Pride is doing plenty of the heavy lifting.
From favour to feud
Gallen used his Today appearance to paint Asofa-Solomona as an ungrateful upstart, insisting he helped open the door to the very promoters now pitting them against each other.
“Few different emotions in this – bit nervous, looking forward to the challenge, but a little bit disappointed in Nelson and a few things that happened late last year,” Gallen said.
He then detailed a meeting at the Pacific Championship final between New Zealand and Samoa, where he says he passed on a Las Vegas fight offered by No Limit and pushed Asofa-Solomona’s name instead.
“I actually rang No Limit for him, did my best for Nelson... and my name hasn’t stopped coming out of his mouth since,” Gallen said. “I did everything I could to help him start his boxing career. I’m not taking credit for his career, but I did go into bat for him.
“For him to be calling me out now feels a bit disrespectful.”
That perceived slight has clearly lit the fuse. The 45-year-old, who has been competing in elite sport for four decades, sounded every bit like the old warhorse being dragged back into the arena for one more charge.
“There are people close to me telling me not to do it, but I’ve been competing since I was five years old. It’s just what I do, it’s what I’m used to. No one has been able to stop me yet, and I don’t think this bloke is going to be able to.
“You’ve asked for me to come out of retirement, called me out. You’re going to get the old bull now and the horns. I’m going to smash your face in.”
Asofa-Solomona fires back
Asofa-Solomona, appearing from a separate location on Today, pushed back on Gallen’s version of events and laughed off the idea he owed his boxing break to the former Sharks skipper.
“Gallen is telling porkies, he’s done absolutely nothing for my boxing career,” he said.
He didn’t stop there.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity, but he should be grateful that I’m giving him a nice little payday to send him away before his pension.”
The barbs underline the generational and physical contrast at the heart of this fight: a seasoned, undersized veteran with a thick resume against a towering, raw puncher still trying to prove he belongs in a serious boxing conversation.
Record versus raw power
Gallen’s record speaks to his toughness and ambition. He is 16-2-1 as a professional, his only defeats coming against rising Australian heavyweight Justis Huni and Kris Terzievski. He even returned from an earlier retirement to face Sonny Bill Williams in July last year, outworking the former All Black and winning on the scorecards.
He has boxed genuine heavyweights, taken real punishment, and kept coming. That experience gap is stark.
Asofa-Solomona walked away from a lucrative Melbourne Storm contract last year to sign a three-year deal with No Limit and chase a new life as a fighter. So far, the highlight reel flatters him: three fights, three knockouts. The fine print is less flattering. His opponents – Jeremy Latimore, Jarrod Wallace and George Burgess – are fellow former NRL forwards with limited boxing pedigree and no notable achievements in the ring.
Gallen is a different assignment entirely. Smaller? Yes. Older? By a long way. But hardened by big nights under bright lights, and by far the most credible opponent Asofa-Solomona has faced.
The intrigue sits right in that gap. Can a hulking, untested puncher walk through a grizzled technician who has seen everything the cross-code circus can throw at him? Or does the old bull have one last run left in him against the biggest body he’s ever tried to move?
On November 6 in Sydney, we find out whether this is the coronation of a new heavyweight attraction – or the night a veteran shuts the gate on a giant’s fast-track ambitions.
