Former Brisbane Broncos captain, Justin Hodges has appealed to the Australian National Boxing Federation to overturn his TKO loss to NSW rival, Paul Gallen.
The Origin competitors met in the squared circle last month, where Gallen was triumphant after securing a stoppage in the dying seconds of the third round.
However, it was an incident in the prior round which has sparked Hodges's decision to take legal action in having the result overturned.
“He had me back against the ropes, halfway over the ropes, and hit me illegally," Hodges told Fox Sports.
“It was like what Ivan Drago did in Rocky IV. I was completely defenceless.”
After outboxing Gallen in the opening round and scoring a knockdown in the second, Hodges would have been ahead on the scorecards and believes he would have gone on to win the contest if not for the foul play.
"If Gal doesn't cheat, and if the referee does his job I go on to win,” Hodges argued.
“But the referee just told me ‘don't milk it, get up'. I've been told since that I should've been given up to five minutes to recover and that if I couldn't continue, Gal should have been disqualified."
“But because the referee told me to get up, I thought that's what I had to do. So I got up. But that punch had rocked me and you could then see the flow on effect because of what happened there.
“It was cheating and that's why I've lodged an appeal.”
It's uncertain when the rivalry will hit the legal system if at all, Hodges will be seeking a knockout blow the second time round.
