Justin Hodges has missed out on making amends for his September loss to former rugby league now boxing foe Paul Gallen at No Limit Boxing's fight night in Sydney on Wednesday.

The much anticipated rematch ended as a unanimous victory for the hotly-tipped Gallen despite a gutsy effort from the former Maroon.

The pair felt each other out before tiring into bear hugs with occasional patches of action.

After fiery negotiation on the round length the middle ground was met at two and a half minutes.

Gallen initially claimed the fight was off unless his three minute demand was met.

A 60-54, 60-54, 59-55 scorecard surprised most after Gallen controlled the bout.

"Gallen's done enough but Hodges gave everything," commentators said before the result was read.

"Hodges didn't find the right hand but boxed really well at times.

"Impressively he was able to go the distance.

"The thinking was he would need something big early or he was going to be stopped late"

Hodges looked lively early before before conceding onto to his back foot for the bulk of the contest.

Despite having his moments the 40-year-old failed to put combinations together, instead relying on jabs.

Gallen the beneficiary of the judges decision after landing more convincing blows.

Speaking after the match Gallen reflected on his boxing career which ended at 41 years of age with a 15-2-1 record.

"With all respect to Hodgo I think 12 months ago I probably would have won more convincingly but everyone slows down in life at some stage."

"He's (Hodges) a warrior and he knows that," he said.

"He was a great rugby league player, we played a lot of footy together we won a lot of test matches together.

"We've still got great respect for one another quite a lot of 41 a lot of chess match together."

Hodges shared similar sentiments and appeared happy with his efforts later revealing he would also hang up the gloves.

"The only way I could beat Gall was to try and catch him with a big punch but he just got a massive tank and he proved that," he said.

"I lost my (NRL) grand final here and I've lost my boxing match.

"I've got two young kids to think about, you don't want to keep getting punched in the head all the time."

The night, Gallen v Hodges 2, rounded out the return of Michael Zerafa toppling Italian Danilo Creaiti in the co-main event.