A St George Illawarra diehard, Goodman was a handy hooker in his younger days, only taking up boxing for fitness as a teenager.
Now, he stands on the edge of history as he prepares to face Japanese sensation Ryosuke Nishida for the interim IBF super-bantamweight world title.
Goodman’s family has deep ties to Group 7 club Albion Park Seagulls as well, with ‘The Ghost’ fighting at the team’s clubrooms once, and regularly wearing the side’s colours early in his career.
He’ll be carrying all their support, and Gallen’s too, as he plans on upsetting the odds and beating Nishida in front of his home fans this Sunday night.
“I know he’s a Dragons fan, and that he’s been a Dragons fan for a very long time,” Gallen told Code Sports.
“But at the end of the day, he’s a rugby league fan, so I’m backing him as a rugby league man.
“Let’s go Sammy.”
The pair known each other for years, having occasionally used the same Cronulla boxing gym owned by Goodman’s manager and Gallen’s longtime associate, ‘Baby’ Pete Mitrevski.
“I first came across Sammy many years ago and he’s always just been an absolute beast and one of Australia’s best boxers,” Gallen said.
“Technically, he’s a brilliant boxer, and he’s at that weight where it’s hard because a lot of people can’t even see their punches.
“That’s the thing about those smaller weights, they’re so fast — they’re lightning fast — that at the end of the round, people wonder what happened.
“It’s not like the heavyweights where people can see the punches coming and see when someone gets hurt.
“It’s so technical that weight.
“Unfortunately he doesn’t have the backing he deserves, but he’s over in Tokyo this weekend, and let’s hope he gets the job done and can hopefully move on to Naoya Inoue.”
Goodman has been in Tokyo for a week and is a massive fan favourite with the boxing-mad Japanese fans.
He will finally come face-to-face with Nishida for the first time at Friday’s press conference.
While Gallen talks about a potential fight with pound-for-pound kingpin Inoue, the reality remains unclear, with the Japanese star expected to move up to featherweight.
That isn’t great news for Goodman getting a fight with him, but means the “interim” tag on this weekend’s world title fight is meaningless.
“I’m seeing this as a world title for me,” Goodman told Code Sports.
“The talk is that he moves up, but I’ve heard a bunch of things.
“For me, this is a world title.
“He’s a former world champion, and I’m not fussed about hearing anything else about it.
“For me, this is for the IBF world title. If I get that shot (at Inoue), I’ll put my hand up again.
“But I want to stamp my name at the top of the IBF this weekend and say, ‘either fight me, or move on’.
“I’ll address that when it comes, but for now it’s just win at all costs.
“There is no interim. This is for the world title.”