![\"'Deadsh*t](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/b0dfadc58f373a266a8d2d802bc80f56.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nPaul Gallen says Nelson Asofa-Solomona will be left with no option but to return to the NRL with the beleaguered Perth Bears after putting a beating on the former Melbourne Storm front-rower on November 6. <\/p>\n
Gallen is coming out of retirement at the age of 45 to end \u2018Big Nasty\u2019s\u2019 boxing career, but says he\u2019ll put in a call to his Channel 9 colleague and Bears tragic James Bracey so he lands on his feet. <\/p>\n
At a fiery press conference on Wednesday, Gallen\u2019s camp initially circled the PNG Chiefs as a possible destination for Asofa-Solomona, before the former Sharks captain demoted him to the Bears. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith all due respect to my mate James Bracey, the Perth Bears need something,\u201d Gallen said as the Bears battle to be ready for their debut season next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably wouldn\u2019t be the worst signing to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll talk to James Bracey for you, he might be a recruitment officer for the Bears and might be able to get you a run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asofa-Solomona refused to rule out a return to rugby league, but wouldn\u2019t be drawn on Gallen\u2019s comments. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, right now, my heart\u2019s in boxing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say anything right now, because I\u2019m so tunnel-visioned on this fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still love the game, but I\u2019m not too sure the game loves me back. I just think I\u2019m meant to be here. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit too physical with rugby league and where it\u2019s headed. And probably a bit too tall and a bit too fat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asofa-Solomona, who has wins over Jeremy Latimore, Jarrod Wallace and George Burgess this year, backs his power to get the job done against Gallen at the Tik Tok Entertainment Centre in Sydney on November 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a 45-year-old man and the first thing to go is your chin,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve got the Samoan and Polish power right here in my right hand and I\u2019m going to drive it down the pipeline. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will land at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gallen most recently scored a split decision win over Sonny Bill Williams last year, and says the only reason promoter No Limit has dragged him out of retirement is because Asofa-Solomona can\u2019t sell pay-per-views and isn\u2019t the devastating puncher they thought he would be. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not good. At all,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s got three wins, but they don\u2019t have any background in boxing. Zero. None at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say a good big man beats a good little man, but he\u2019s no f***ing good. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big man. But he\u2019s not a good man.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t start boxing at 29 years of age and think you\u2019re gonna be any good at it. He\u2019s not going to pick it up. It\u2019s just not gonna happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallen also fired back at critics of the five-round PPV main event, saying his presence brings eyeballs to a stacked undercard featuring rising stars Callum Peters and Paulo Aokuso and a mouth-watering domestic showdown between Ahmad Reda and Jake Wyllie. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a few people in boxing with the usual complaints about us footy boys, but at the end of the day, we bring eyeballs to the sport and that\u2019s what certain boxing people should remember,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more people that watch these boys fight, the better it is for them. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have gotta stop worrying about where you come from and what your background is. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, these boys could be fighting at their local RSL clubs in their hometowns in front of 300 people. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to fight in a few weeks\u2019 time in front of tens of thousands of people at home seeing how good they are. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to be promoting those boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already touted as a future world title prospect, Peters is scheduled to face Colombia\u2019s Juan Ortiz (11-1), but won\u2019t be done there. <\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s busiest fighter has already had four fights this year, and wants to back up on the Tim Tszyu vs Erislandy Lara undercard, which is strongly rumoured to be held on November 29, just three weeks later. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s no cuts and no injuries, I want to back up on Tim\u2019s card,\u201d Peters told Code Sports. \u201cFingers crossed I\u2019m all good. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be in the zone, I\u2019ve been training, I\u2019m always active and always fight ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
PAUL GALLEN VS NELSON ASOFA-SOLOMONA UNDERCARD <\/p>\n
Paul Gallen vs Nelson Asofa-Solomona \u2013 heavyweight
Callum Peters vs Juan Ortiz \u2013 middleweight
Ahmad Reda vs Jake Wyllie \u2013 lightweight
Paulo Aokuso vs Mobin Khahrazeh \u2013 light heavyweight
Dharringarra Trewhella vs Jyl Wright \u2013 welterweight
Alex Naman vs Ronnie Baldonado \u2013 super bantamweight
Kya Sparks vs Zidane Semedo Tavares \u2013 super welterweight
Jayden Fadel vs Rajesh Kumar \u2013 super lightweight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Gallen says Nelson Asofa-Solomona will be left with no option but to return to the NRL with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[487370,415502,400431,382482,469217,487371,61892,426030,75780,64,63,487379,63427,20762,68077,219492,340450,458403,45755,46499,761,762,75778,464721,487372,400048,487378,158,487375,393979,85,670,487368,55661,487367,487373,379738,487381,487376,290300,487380,487374,433109,438967,487369,458181,23927,487377],"class_list":["post-919093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-juan-ortiz","tag-s-vow","tag-29-years","tag-a-run","tag-a-split-decision","tag-a-stacked-undercard","tag-ahmad-reda","tag-all-due-respect","tag-asofa-solomona","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-battling-bears","tag-boxing-career","tag-boys","tag-code-sports","tag-george-burgess","tag-james-bracey","tag-just-three-weeks","tag-last-year","tag-nas","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nelson-asofa-solomona","tag-no-cuts","tag-no-fing","tag-no-option","tag-november-29","tag-nrl","tag-paul-gallen-and-nelson-asofa-solomona","tag-some-point","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-ta-stop","tag-the-bears","tag-the-bears-battle","tag-the-beleaguered-perth-bears","tag-the-day","tag-the-devastating-puncher","tag-the-only-reason-promoter","tag-the-perth-bears","tag-the-tik-tok-entertainment-centre","tag-the-worst-signing","tag-the-zone","tag-their-debut-season","tag-these-boys","tag-those-boys","tag-wins","tag-your-background"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}