Anthony “The Man” Mundine has the potential to be remembered as one of this country’s finest ever boxers, not right up the top alongside Fenech, Tzsyu, and Darchinyan but definitely somewhere next in line.

Mundine pocesses devastating hand speed, is a showman, and more importantly Mundine generates massive public interest in all his fights. Whether we like to admit it or not, Australian Boxing has been booming since his arrival.

However, even his most hardcore supporters will admit that Anthony Mundine has done little in the last 12 to 18 months. Whilst credit must be paid for Choc’s activity in the ring during this time, with him spending as little as 3 months between fights ensuring a healthy boxer and cash flow, there has clearly been a lack of quality in the quantity.

But it has been his choice of opponents who have drawn the most criticism. Since a resounding defeat of Danny Green, in the biggest fight this country has seen, Mundine was expected to finally move up a gear, meaning not only a shot at reclaiming his WBA Super-Middleweight crown, but potential big fights at the time with Joe Calzaghe, a rematch with Mikkel Kessler, Jeff Lacy and others.

Mundine would go onto to get a chance to win the WBA Super Middleweight Title (Interim) when Mikkel Kessler defeated Marcus Beyer to claim both the WBC & WBA Super Middleweight Titles. This result meant that the WBA could elevate Kessler to the crown of “Super Champion” and crown an interim World champion.

Confused? I’ll try to explain.

The rule of “Super Champion” in which the WBA are the only organization to have it in effect, acts as a perfect sign of the shambles of world boxing. The super champion rule is used to double sanctioning fees as there are two champions, as well as ensuring the WBA Title is defended whilst the “Super” Champion may be inactive or moving up a division or continue to unify divisions – as Kessler v Calzaghe did a few months later.

This meant that whilst Kessler fought Calzaghe, to unify the Super Middleweight Division with the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO Titles on the line, Mundine would fight Soliman for the WBA “Interim” World Title, effectively like mentioned above doubling the sanctioning fees the WBA would be paid but also the WBA brand both fights as “World Title Fights” ensuring a much larger draw in ppv buys, ticket sales and public interest.

It was the “Super Champion” rule that saw Mundine win his first “World Title” (Interim) over Antwon Echols when Sven Ottke was elevated to Super Champion.

So, Mundine managed to fight fellow Aussie Sam Soliman for the interim title, with the proviso being “Super Champion” Kessler would meet Mundine sometime in the next 18 months for the Full Title, as per the Super Champion rule.

What followed was a devastating victory to The Man, which saw Mundine drop Soliman three times before winning by KO in the 9th.

Following the bout was a health scare which saw Mundine reportedly partially blind in one eye and fighting to save his career. While many saw this as another Mundine publicity stunt, inspection of his fights since shows that Mundine has not looked as sharp since, (6 from 7 fights since he has failed to yield a KO and have gone the full 12 rounds) and has seen Mundine take several big shots and fail to really dominate in fights with Nievas, Clavero (27-5), Hamdan (40-5), Soliman 3 (35-10), Crazy Kim (28-4 – dropped mundine in round 3), Pintos (31-2) and Shannon Taylor (48-6), all fighters who are either journeyman, past their prime or inexperienced.

After beating Nader Hamdan the WBA then ordered the anticipated Kessler/Mundine rematch for the full title to be held in the following 8 months. However, Mundine put that fight on the backburner, instead opting for a Mundine v Soliman 3, after Mundine won so one sided in the second fight. After winning this fight, Mundine shocked everyone by announcing he would not be facing Kessler, he would vacate the title and be campaigning as a middleweight.

Many called Mundine a coward, as the vacating of the title was surely an act of cowardice on Mundine’s behalf. Did Mundine fear Kessler or was it smart business? Time will tell. But some less hardcore boxing fans may not realize just how the business works.

Given Mundine’s popularity or lack thereof, Mundine could fight anybody and he would make money.

Mundine fights are big money earners on pay per view and the live gate is often a sellout. Whether the people watch to see Mundine fail or to support him is not all that important. What is, is the fact they come and pay the money.

Mundine can very easily continue his career fighting standard/sub-standard opposition and either way he will be making big money, and there is always the $7 million offer for Mundine v Green 2.

Boxing is about reputation and image. A fighter’s record is his bread winner, a boxer can fight the top ten fighters in the world and have a record of 8-2, or he can fight 10 journeyman fighters perhaps a little past their prime and have a record of 10-0. The boxer with a 10-0 record regardless of opposition, would more than likely sell more tickets, more pay per views and overall have more public interest.

A Mundine loss to Kessler could potentially mean a public perception vindicated that Mundine can no longer compete with world class fighters, and such a result would ultimately mean less interest, less pay per view buys and less $$$ .

By vacating the title, the record stays intact, as does the perception of Mundine as still a dangerous world class fighter and the WBA have granted him the No.1 Contender for Felix Sturm’s WBA Middleweight Title.

Many boxing experts were supportive of the move to Middleweight, saying that Mundine could easily make the weight and would in fact be a “big” Middleweight as opposed to a “undersized” Super-Middleweight giving away size advantage to the likes of Kessler, Green & Calzaghe.

However, Mundine bizarrely then fought his next two fights at catch weight (a weight in between weight divisions, in this instance Super-Middle & Middleweight divisions), with Mundine only recently actually fighting at the Middleweight limit for the first time in his most recent fight a few weeks ago vs. Shannon Taylor.

Now, after defeating Taylor, Mundine is in talks to line up a fight for the IBO Middleweight Title with fellow Aussie, Daniel Geale. (Hoping that Geale successfully defends the title v Odebele Toney on March 11th.)

This fight, albeit not for a majorly recognized world title (WBC, IBF, WBA, and WBO are seen in boxing as most prestigious) any world title does act as a bargaining chip when hoping to lure fighters into a match up or to push your ranking higher in numerous divisions.

A Geale match up would be ideal for Mundine. It would generate good publicity, I feel do good business, be a solid test for Mundine, but also show his intentions to the world.

Other scenarios are perhaps trying to establish a profile in the lucrative US where Mundine is relatively unknown, his guaranteed shot at Sturm for the WBA Middleweight Title (Sturm has 12 months to fulfill mandatory defense) or a touted $7 Million rematch with Danny Green at Light-Heavyweight.

The touted clash with Green at Light-Heavyweight (2 weight divisions higher than Middleweight – Green was also a revelation and much improved when moved up to Light Heavy) will show the true character and desire of Mundine. Does he want the money or the glory and the legacy?

$7 Million is a lot of money, and to be fair, I think it is quite hypocritical to bag both men if they do take the fight (as most of the population would do the same for the money involved).

Hearing The Man say this week that he has bigger fish to fry than Danny Green was music to my ears, as after I thought all hope was lost, it seems Mundine will actually step things up and is serious about winning a genuine world title and take on the likes of Kelly Pavlich, Winky Wright and Jermaine Taylor. But having been let down so often in the past, we can not get too carried away just yet.

My thoughts on Mundine are mixed, I’ll admit I support him in every fight he is in, as I will support any Australian team or individual. (It annoys me to see so many cheering on the likes of Kessler, Ottke, Echols when they fought Mundine.)

However I can also say I have never agreed with any of his comments that he is famous for. I also have been disappointed on several occasions with his inability to go through with his promises of stepping things up, but knowing how the business of boxing works, I can say he is not the only boxer that has been guilty of this, as it is just the nature if boxing nowadays.

But I support and judge the Anthony Mundine from Round 1 to Round 12: no shenanigans, no talk, no media, just Mundine-Boxer.

I don’t think he gets as much respect for his boxing talent as he deserves. Mundine never had an amateur career unlike Fenech, Tzsyu, Darchinyan, Green, Katsidis, Taylor, etc .

Study him inside the ropes and you will see a World class boxer with a deadly right hand and hand speed you cannot put a price on, and some of the best made plans which often sees the opponent helpless in getting a glove on “The Man”, as Danny Green saw in their clash.

I have met Anthony Mundine and from my experience I have to say he was very genuine, down to earth, respectful and an all-round nice guy. (I can also say the same for Jeff Fenech, who also gets a bad rap from the public and media.)

However, the public do not see this Anthony Mundine, the one who doesn’t drink or smoke, mentors young people in Muslim and Aboriginal communities, and has established a drug program that educates youngsters on its effects.

Maybe if they did, those pubs and clubs that are packed to the rim, and somewhat divided every Mundine fight, would be united behind an Australian sporting superstar.

Had Anthony Mundine defeated Sven Ottke, when fighting for the WBA Super-Middleweight Title way back in only his 10th professional fight, when Mundine was matching Ottke blow for blow, before suffering a KO loss in the 10th Round…who knows who or what Anthony Mundine could be today.

The public perception of Mundine could very well be unchangeable, but if The Man begins to land big fights as he has now promised, and can make as many headlines in the ring as out of it, The Man Mundine could very well turn it all around.

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