Paul Gallen: Net Worth, Boxing Record, Next Fight & SBW Result

For a player who spent nearly two decades as Cronulla’s on-field enforcer, Paul Gallen has never retired quietly. He retired from boxing in 2025, then announced a return in September 2026 — again, tying together his NRL career, his 16-2-1 boxing record, and a net worth that turns out to be surprisingly hard to pin down.

NRL team: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks · Boxing record: 16-2-1 (8 KOs) · Height: 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) · Born: 23 August 1981

Nine data points, one pattern: the playing record is public, the money is not.

Who won out of Paul Gallen and Sonny Bill Williams?

The short answer depends on which meeting you count. Williams won the first fight in 2019 by unanimous decision. A rematch was then scheduled for 16 July 2025 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and promoted as a Stan boxing blockbuster. Wikipedia’s bout tally credits Gallen with a split-decision win over eight rounds in that rematch and lists Williams’ record at 9-2 after the loss (Wikipedia community-recorded boxing stats).

What was the result of the Gallen vs SBW fight?

• 2019: Williams by unanimous decision — the first fight went the distance with the scorecards favouring Williams.
• 16 July 2025: the rematch at Qudos Bank Arena; the community-maintained record credits Gallen with a split-decision win over eight rounds, meaning one judge still scored it for Williams.
• Williams’ record after the rematch: 9 wins and 2 losses.

What is Paul Gallen’s boxing record?

• 16 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw across 19 professional fights, including 8 knockouts.
• His boxing career began in 2014 while he was transitioning from professional rugby league (Sporting News Australia)
• Marquee knockouts over Mark Hunt and Lucas Browne (Variety Australia)

The implication: the rivalry made both men commercial headliners, but the scorecard question is exactly what keeps a third meeting alive in Sydney fight circles.

Is Paul Gallen going to fight again?

Yes. Gallen retired from boxing in 2025 iboxing and announced a return in September 2026, with Nelson Asofa-Solomona named as the opponent.

Why did Paul Gallen come out of retirement?

• Gallen labelled Asofa-Solomona a “quitter” in a YouTube interview, saying the disrespect is what dragged him back.
• His own economics have never been a secret — a reported A$25 million gross purse run changes how seriously anyone takes a retirement announcement.

When is Paul Gallen’s next fight?

• Announced: September 2026.
• Opponent: Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
• Status: his first fight since retiring in 2025.

The pattern: every Gallen comeback follows the same script — a public retirement, a score to settle, and purse money too big to ignore.

Who did Gallen play for?

Which NRL team did Paul Gallen represent?

• Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks — his only NRL club, from 2001 to 2019 (NRL.com official records)
• A one-club career is rare in the modern NRL, and Gallen fit the Sharks’ tough, local-forward identity perfectly.
• He played as a lock or prop forward, the middle-of-the-field enforcer role.

What are Paul Gallen’s NRL career highlights?

• Captained Cronulla to the club’s first NRL premiership in 2016.
• Won the Clive Churchill Medal for that grand final performance.
• Also captained New South Wales in State of Origin.

What this means: Gallen was the rare one-club NRL star in an era of player movement, which is why his post-football boxing career got the attention it did.

How rich is Paul Gallen?

How much money did Paul Gallen make in boxing?

• Gallen reportedly grossed approximately A$25 million from boxing, although that figure is gross revenue rather than confirmed personal profit (Zero Tackle rugby league news)
• Eddie Hearn was reported to have offered Gallen and Williams A$4 million each for a two-fight series.
• NRL salary estimates have run above $700,000 a season.

What is Paul Gallen’s net worth?

• No reliable source in the available evidence establishes an exact figure.
• Widely cited estimates put Gallen’s net worth between $5 million and $10 million.
• The gap between reported gross earnings and verified wealth is the story: millions through the turnstiles, little on the public balance sheet.

The trade-off: a boxer can report millions in gross purses and still have no verified net worth — Gallen’s real wealth is the least public part of his career.

Who is the richest paid boxer?

Floyd Mayweather is widely considered the richest boxer in the sport, with public estimates placing his net worth above $400 million. None of the commonly cited figures reach billionaire status, which is worth remembering whenever “billionaire boxer” headlines appear.

Who is a billionaire boxer?

• Not Mayweather, on the published estimates — the $400 million-plus figure is the ceiling most often cited.
• No widely cited estimate puts any boxer in this comparison at billionaire level.
• Across combat sports generally, Mayweather remains the name at the top of most lists.

Five names, five very different fortunes — and a paper trail that runs thin for all of them.

Which boxer lost his money?

• Evander Holyfield is the example most often named when the question comes up.
• The lesson usually drawn: massive purses do not guarantee lasting wealth.

The pattern: boxing wealth is a house of mirrors — Mayweather’s reported hundreds of millions sit alongside cautionary tales like Holyfield, and Gallen’s own fortune is the least documented of all.

Four rows, one rivalry — the Gallen–Williams numbers that still get argued about in Sydney bars:

Paul Gallen: career timeline

Eight dates trace the arc: junior league battler, NRL captain, boxing headliner, retiree, and — again — a fighter with something to prove.

The through-line: each chapter kept producing a bigger stage — and the 2026 announcement shows the pattern isn’t finished.

Confirmed facts and open questions

Confirmed facts

• One-club NRL career with Cronulla from 2001 to 2019 (NRL.com official records)
• Boxing record: 16 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw (8 KOs).
• Captained Cronulla’s 2016 premiership-winning side and won the Clive Churchill Medal.

What’s unclear

• Exact net worth — no reliable source in the available evidence confirms a figure.
• What the reported A$25 million in gross boxing revenue becomes after costs, tax and camp expenses.
• Whether he keeps fighting after the scheduled Asofa-Solomona bout.

The catch: most of what is confidently repeated about Gallen’s money is estimate, not record.

What the key voices say

“Quitter.” That is the word Gallen used for Nelson Asofa-Solomona in a YouTube interview, explaining that the disrespect is what pulled him back into the ring.

Paul Gallen, via his own YouTube interview

Gallen encouraged Williams to continue boxing and suggested that sufficiently large commercial fights could justify doing so.

Paul Gallen, reported by Zero Tackle

Reports described Eddie Hearn as having offered Gallen and Williams A$4 million each for two fights (Fox Sports Australia).

Eddie Hearn, as reported by Fox Sports Australia

What this means: Gallen’s public statements have always done the negotiating for him.

The takeaway

Gallen’s career has always been louder than the paperwork. The NRL record is public, the boxing ledger sits on Wikipedia, and the money sits somewhere between A$25 million in reported gross purses and a figure no reliable source will confirm. For Gallen, the choice in 2026 is clear: beat Asofa-Solomona and the “retirement” talk collapses into a negotiating position — lose, and the comeback story turns into a cautionary tale about disrespect.

Frequently asked questions

The pattern: Gallen’s money is the one question without a documented answer.

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