Former Sydney Swans star Barry Hall might never have fought professionally before, but come this evening, you can be sure he’ll be well prepared when he faces recently retired leaguie Paul Gallen.
The AFL great has undertaken a gruelling seven-week training program that involved everything from table tennis to sparring and punching through shields.
After relocating his family to NSW and taking residency in Kingscliff with legendary trainer Angelo Hyder, Hall was challenged to recapture the talent that saw him become a junior state boxing champion some 26 years ago.
While his opponent, Gallen, was getting ready to compete in his 10th professional bout, Hall was more focused on getting “off the couch”.
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The last time Hall faced a task of this magnitude was seven years ago in the form of his last competitive fixture in the AFL. But weighing in on the Crown Rvierwalk, Hall stood tall at 102Kg without an ounce of fat on his rig.
“He was in decent base shape. He wasn’t in fight shape of course so he’s had to work hard,” his trainer Tony Nobbs told Foxsports.
“He hasn’t left any stone unturned.”
Watch Barry Hall prep for his big fight
While Hall had decent aerobic fitness, he was in no state to enter the ring. He hadn’t thrown a jab since his teenage days and his body wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demands of a boxing bout.
Along with Nobbs, Hall also worked with trainer Crag Wilson and Hyder – the trio hardly let Hall take a day off.
The 42-year-old spent countless hours on the mitts, bags or sparring in the ring. In between rounds, he was sentenced to time on the treadmills and stationary bikes.
But Hall’s hunger never faded. At one stage, during pad work, Hall landed an accidental jab to Wilson’s face leaving him with a black eye.
Days were long and between exercises, there were always other moves he could work on or he worked on conditioning.
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“Lot of pad work, lot of conditioning work, running machines and other apparatus. He’s been working hard,” Nobbs said.
“He would come to the gym and shadow box to warm up, maybe play a little bit of table tennis. Then he does some sparring, six rounds of sparring.
“Then he will finish off with six other rounds maybe on the shield or the pads, or he might do a cardio session, a bag session.
“One day he might do a bag session after sparring and the next day he might do cardio on machines.
Barry Hall will face off agains Paul Gallen on Friday the 15th Of November. The pair will square off over six two-minute rounds.
