Paul Gallen and Sonny Bill Williams. Photo: Photosport
Sonny Bill Williams v Paul Gallen
Main card starts: 9pm Wednesday 16 July
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Live blog updates on RNZ
After a decade of verbal jabs, Sonny Bill Williams and Paul Gallen are still not done talking.
The pair will finally clash in a boxing ring on Wednesday night but first went head to head on the microphone in Monday's press conference in Sydney.
Things started respectfully enough, with both men implying they were over the verbal exchanges, and simply ready to fight.
"I am just laser focused, and I know I'll show how limited this guy is. I have not been running, I just haven't been thinking about Paul. I may not be the best boxer but I know I can beat this guy," Williams said.
Gallen reciprocated.
"What's happened in the past doesn't matter, Wednesday night we will finally settle the score. We're going to fight, that's all that matters."
However, it was only a matter of time before the vitriol spilled out.
Accusations of drug use, charging small businesses for food reviews, and the war of words was on.
Sonny Bill Williams. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Gallen was referring to Williams and his wife's blog.
"You are worth millions, but you go to small businessess but you charge between $2000 and $3000 dollars for food reviews. Your silence to this questions is deafening, you are a scumbag, you walk around like you're helping the community and you go and charge small business thousands of dollars to 'help' them, you're a piece of s...."
"Good on you bro, I could not give two flying hams. Brother I want to know did you take performance enhancing drugs?" Williams asked.
"I was given them by my club. Everyone knows the story mate!" Gallen responded.
"But you accepted the ban?"
"The only thing this dope is going to go on about is drugs because he's a stupid prick and he has nothing else to say, he's an idiot!"
Gallen escalated things when he brought up Williams' past recreational drug use.
"This bloke is an admitted drug user to cope!"
Sonny fired back saying "there is a difference between performance enhancing and recreational drugs."
Before Gallen interjected.
"You didn't use them for recreational reasons, you used them to cope with the stress of the game, that's cheating."
Paul Gallen Photo: PHOTOSPORT
This one is beyond personal.
The much anticipated main event is set for approximately midnight on Wednesday.
The card will also feature the return of Kiwi David Nyika, who is coming off the back off his first career loss.
He will meet fellow kiwi Nikolas Charalampous.
Nyika said it has been a mental challenge coming back to the sport after being brutally finished by Jai Opetaia.
"I need to put on an absolute clinic, I need to get back on the wagon. This has not been an easy camp psychologically coming back form a big loss like that I really expected to be a world champion right now, so it's a step sideways but we side step to move forward."
His opponent has never been knocked out, and while Nyika said he'd love to be the first, his focus in on winning no matter how it comes.
"I'm here to fight and and I know Nik comes to fight. He hasn't been stopped, it would be a big feat for me, but at the end of the day I need to do what's best for me so if we have an eight round war we'll have an eight round war."
Charalampous acknowledged he may not present the same threat as Opetaia, but he believes he can trouble Nyika.
"I'm not at Jai's level but i'll try, I've got nothing to lose, I'm fighting an Olympian, I don't want to look like an idiot, I want to put on a good show, I'm not here to just fall over."
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