Last Thursday at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, Danny Green announced the next step of his comeback tour on his mission to secure a deeply desired rematch with his career-long nemesis Anthony Mundine.
Green will once again be returning to his new base of Melbourne’s Hisense Arena on the second of December to face German slugger Konnie Konrad. The ageing West Australian is having a quick turnaround. Green’s last fight was a ten-round shut out of short notice replacement, Roberto Bolonti, in August.
It was not the most thrilling of bouts, but Green performed solidly in his first fight in almost three years at the age of 42. Using his traditionally strong jab and a patient attack the ‘Green Machine’ won every round against an opponent who seemed more concerned with just surviving the fight rather than winning the contest.
Green’s new opponent, Konrad, appears to be the type of fighter that will go toe-to-toe with him. With Konrad achieving a professional record of 22 wins from 24 bouts with 11 stoppages, Green’s promotional team has matched him up with an opponent that clearly knows what it takes to be victorious.
With that being said, the quality of Konrad’s victories and opponents leaves something to be desired when compared to Green’s career bouts. His last bout was his most high profile to date, a loss to WBA Light Heavyweight champion, Juergen Braehmer, being outclassed and knocked down en route to quitting on his stool after seven rounds citing vision problems after sustaining constant punishment to the eye. His last five wins also come against opponents who’s records combine for an underwhelming 73 wins and 62 losses.
Konrad will provide a heavy punching threat to an ageing Green, but lacks the technical ability to beat a well prepared and experienced campaigner in front of a partisan home crowd at Hisense Arena.
A loss to Konrad will end all hopes of securing a rematch with Mundine and also Green’s professional career. Although he has clearly slowed down, Green will still be too strong, technical and composed enough to win another lopsided decision.
Meanwhile, Anthony Mundine also has his own upcoming battle taking place in Melbourne in November. ‘The Man’ will be taking on American, Charles Hatley (25-1-1, 17 KOs) at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in his first defence of the WBC Silver Super Middleweight title he won in November of last year.
A win by both Green and Mundine could bring them a step closer to a lucrative rematch, but in reality it is unlikely that it will occur due to problems stemming from the difference in preferred fighting weight. Mundine recently said he will be willing to go up to Light Heavyweight to fight Green, but only with the added stipulation that Green would only be allowed to rehydrate back up to ten kilograms heavier than his weigh-in weight for the fight.
The deal breaker though is that if that were to happen, Mundine would require a purse split of 60-40 in his favour.
Green’s claims of fighting at Super Middleweight in their first match being a factor in his loss holds no water as he spent the majority of his career at that weight class. Although dropping from Cruiserweight to Light Heavyweight could be daunting for a man in his mid 40s, it is achievable.
What is not though is getting either fighter to agree to receiving a considerably smaller share of the fight purse.
A rematch is the only big money fight that could be awarded to Green and Mundine at this late stage of their careers, but there are too many variables and not enough time to iron them out if these two Aussie boxing icons were to get it on again before it is too late.
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