As the more experienced fighter Anthony Mundine goes into his bout with American Charles Hatley as the bookies’ favourite for the WBC Silver super welterweight title.
It’s been almost a year to the day since Mundine’s last fight, his impressive split decision victory over the then unbeaten Sergey Rabchenko.
Tonight at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre he takes on a man with similar stats. Hatley, known as ‘The Future’ has a 25-1-1 record with his last victory coming in April against Saul Roman.
63 per cent of Hatley’s fights have been won through knock-out compared to Mundine’s 51, and while the Dallas boxer has an 11-year age advantage on his side (29 vs 40), he has never fought a professional fight outside the United States.
‘The Future’ has taken on some decent fighters, but there’s no doubting Anthony Mundine presents Hatley’s biggest test to date.
“This is the most important fight I ever had,” Hatley told the Star Telegram.
“It’s do or die for me. I’m going to get that belt. I will make a statement that I’m here. We have been waiting on this fight and a chance to fight some of the biggest fighters in the world. It’s my time.”
There’s plenty on the line for ‘The Man’ Mundine as well, who is hoping to secure a dream bout with either Saul Canelo Alvarez or Miguel Cotto.
Mundine has dedicated tonight’s fight to his good friend, cricketer Phillip Hughes who passed away in November last year.
“Phil told me that I was one of the guys that inspired him. That was very touching to me. I held a close place in my heart for him. He was just a beautiful, beautiful man,” Mundine said at the weigh-in on Tuesday.
At 40 years of age Mundine is battling the effects of a career in the ring with hip and elbow niggles but he’s determined as ever to improve on his 47-6 record which includes wins over Shane Mosley, Sam Soliman and Danny Green.
Mundine’s last defeat came in April 2014, when he lost to Ghanaian Joshua Clottey. Clottey put Mundine on the canvass five times that night and won in a unanimous points decision after 12 rounds. Mundine was able to learn from his mistakes and hit back in style against Rabchenko.
Hatley’s camp will no doubt have studied both the Rabchenko and Clottey fights closely to see where they can gain an advantage.
The Texan came into professional boxing after an imposing 250-12 record as an amateur which included a 2007 National title and being selected as an alternate in the 2008 US Beijing Olympic team.
Hatley claims he’s struggled to get big fights up until now due to the politics of the sport and not having a big time promoter on his side.
Both fighters weighed in at 69.8 kg on Tuesday, with Mundine possessing a slight height advantage.
Depending on how tonight’s fight pans out ‘The Man’ didn’t rule out a rematch with Danny Green while speaking on Channel Seven’s Sunrise.
“It’s a nice big pay cheque waiting for me,” he said.
“Greeny’s like an ex-girlfriend. He keeps stalking me. The amount of times he’s stalked me, I’m sick of hearing about him.”
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