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Mark Hunt threw the weigh-in of Tuesday’s Sydney super fight into chaos by attacking Paul Gallen.
As soon as the former NRL star stepped off the scales, Hunt walked over to Gallen and shoved him firmly in the chest.
Security personnel and others on stage separated the pair before Hunt circled back and had another crack, appearing to throw a wild left hook, with a clenched or open fist, that missed by some margin.
Brett Hemmings / Getty Images
Mark Hunt cannot attack Paul Gallen.
Whether the assault was genuine or staged to help sell tickets and pay-per-view purchases may never be known, but Hunt was clearly agitated and in an aggressive mood.
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No harm was done to either fighter, but it did shine an embarrassing light on boxing’s reputation.
Brett Hemmings / Getty Images
Paul Gallen laughs as Mark Hunt prepares to throw a wild left hook at Tuesday’s weigh-in.
“This has been brewing for five years. He’s been talking a lot of crap, and now we’re here. It’s show time for this guy, let’s see if he can cut,” Hunt said.
The couple engaged in a war of words 24 hours earlier at the press conference.
A fight between the former UFC star and former world kickboxing champion K1 and Gallen has been brewing for more than five years.
“That’s kind of shocking,” Gallen said once the couple broke up for the second time.
“He’s trying to intimidate me, we said from day one that we would be professionals, that it would be respectful preparation, but that surprised me a bit.”
Gallen will enter the fight 25kg less after tipping the scales at 103.66kg with Hunt weighing 127.14kg.
There wasn’t as much tension surrounding the main event of Wednesday’s undercard at Bankwest Stadium with undefeated Australian sensation Tim Tszyu and Bowyn Morgan making weight for their super welterweight clash for Tszyu’s IBF Australasia and WBO titles.
