Ex-bikie and NRL player Anthony Watts wants to fight Paul Gallen in the boxing ring
- 1 day ago October 26, 2014
Watts, 27, spent three months at Queensland’s notorious Woodford Correctional Centre last year over his role in a Gold Coast bikie brawl in which an innocent bystander was punched in the head.
Anthony Watts is trying to turn things around. Picture: David Clark Source: News Corp Australia
Watts has turned to Gold Coast boxing promoter Jamie Myer in an attempt to distance himself from motor cycle gangs and crime.
“I’m just trying to stay out of jail. I got out 12 weeks ago and I owe it to my family not to go back,” Watts said.
“I’m not going to say that I’ve completely cut ties with the bikies, but it’s fair to say I’ve distanced myself.
“I’ve had to. The way Campbell Newman cracked down on the bikies in Queensland, it’s cleaned everything right up.
“I’m also trying to clean my own act up,” Watts said.
“I know I’m known as a thug and a bad boy but every day I’m trying to set up a new image.
Anthony Watts is eyeing a fight with Paul Gallen. Picture: David Clark Source: News Corp Australia
“I’m usually quite a physical person so it’s been good stepping into the ring and boxing.
“Gallen is someone who doesn’t intimidate me.
“You never know what could happen. I won’t be backing down. He’ll have to hit me with a baseball bat to knock me out.
“Football fans and boxing fans will definitely get two blokes with a lot of mongrel going at each other.”
As part of his bail conditions Watts has to be breath-tested and drug-tested daily and will need police clearance to travel interstate should Gallen accept his challenge.
The Cronulla Sharks captain will announce his return from an ASADA performance-enhancing substances suspension at PJ Gallagher’s Irish pub in Moore Park tomorrow, when Grange Old School Boxing will reveal a December 3 fight night headlined by two-time world champion Daniel Geale.
For Watts to be confirmed as Gallen’s next opponent, the former NRL player must first win his professional boxing debut at Jupiter’s Casino on the Gold Coast on November 6.
“Unfortunately, until this point in my life I’ve wasted what talent I’ve had,” Watts said.
“I’d love to get my opportunity to play football again, I know I stuffed it up.
“If I had my time over I wouldn’t touch a drop of alcohol. I reached out to Jamie because I want to try to get my life back on track.”
The low point of Watts’s NRL career was earlier this year when he was banned for eight matches for allegedly biting an opponent’s penis.
Watts claims it was a “squirrel grip, but I did not bite him”.
Originally published as Ex-bikie Watts eyeing Gallen fight