Justin Hodges has brought in the lawyers to reverse his controversial TKO loss to his “f—ing cheating” former Kangaroos teammate Paul Gallen.
In an extraordinary postscript to their spiteful encounter in Brisbane last month, Hodges will argue the reason he lost was because Gallen pushed him illegally after he had been pushed out over the ropes.
He has appealed to the Australian National Boxing Federation over the incident in the second round of their heavyweight bout, according to a Fox Sports report.
Hodges believes instead of being ordered back to his feet he should have been given five minutes of recovery time and because of the blow, he lost the fight.
He told Fox Sports the incident was similar to Rocky IV where Ivan Drago grabs the hero of the film after the bell has sounded and hits him in the head.
Paul Gallen and Justin Hodges. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“What Gal did there was f—ing cheating,” he said. “He had me back against the ropes, halfway over the ropes, and hit me illegally. I was completely defenceless.”
Hodges said he took a knee after the hit and even though he could have been awarded the fight on a disqualification if he stayed down, he returned to the fray because referee Tony Kettlewell told him to stop milking it.
Kettleworth stopped the bout the following round which Hodges immediately branded “a bullshit decision”.
“I know the ref’s got a job to do, but there was no way in the world I was hurt,” he said in the ring straight afterwards.
There had been an agreement in place for an automatic rematch but Hodges says they are still yet to strike a deal for another bout.
Hodges and Gallen, who faced off over several years in State of Origin contests but played alongside each other for Australia, had to be separated at the weigh-in before punches were thrown.
Gallen also beat former Maroons forward Ben Hannant on the same night as part of the fight night via a unanimous verdict following the four-round stoush.
The 40-year-old former Cronulla Sharks premiership-winning captain has said he is looking to retire from boxing after being unable to strike a multimillion-dollar deal to take on dual Kiwi international Sonny Bill Williams.
He only wants to fight Hodges again if the bout is staged on his home turf in Sydney.
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