Name the one sport in Australia where the media barely pay attention to the country’s top two guys? A ridiculous idea but one that is a strange reality in Australian boxing.
Reading our media, you would be convinced that Anthony Mundine and Danny Green were the nations’ best fighters, such is the lavish attention and coverage they get for fights that by international standards are comedic.
The Paul Briggs debacle aside, which whilst a stain on the sport, is only to be expected in a local environment where the likes of Green and Mundine seem to be the only Australians that don’t own passports or have any balls.
It’s no shock. Australian boxing has been a insular disgrace for a long time.
Green and Mundine have performed the complex trick of convincing the casual observer that boxing has as much global reach as AFL. It’s bewildering.
I could name twenty overseas fighters they both could have fought and Green chooses Briggs? Anyone that thought Paul Briggs was a credible opponent knows absolutely nothing about boxing.
The only thing that’s ever gone right in NSW is them refusing to sanction the ‘fight.’
Australian boxing lost all credibility the day Mundine decided to pretend to be a boxer and his mate Sonny Bill Williams got treated by the media as a real fighter.
I love boxing and am constantly asked why Australian boxers aren’t very good.
It’s at this point I have to explain, very slowly, that Australia has some wonderful fighters, it’s just the media chooses to ignore them for some reason. They would rather continue to play out a straight black Vs white, good (Green) v evil (Mundine) bogan pantomime that has long since past its use by date.
Green is a nobody working on his retirement plan, Mundine is worse but his business acumen is at least first rate. Never has a fighter achieved so much financially with so little.
Why anyone would pay for a Mundine fight is beyond me. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing you that a Mundine fight wasn’t going to be a 12 round boring, risk free decision.
Intelligent fans don’t buy Australian promoted fights on PPV. Give your money to the homeless instead.
The fighters we should be hearing about are Vic Darchinyan and Michael Katsidis, Australia’s best and bravest, who proudly fly the flag.
These two warriors have spent the last five years flying all over the world, fighting the best, beating good fighters yet tragically wouldn’t be recognised in the street by most in their own country.
Katsidis, in particular, is a genuine star. His brutal destruction of a number of highly ranked boxers in their backyard has won him a considerable fan club in the UK and US, but in Australia?
Silence.
But, hey, let’s not get in the way of the media obsession with the two fighters, who internationally make Australian boxing synonymous with cowardice.
deq blaque
Guest
fair comment right the way through. probably irked related to darchinyan who doesn't seem to be doing it for australia as much as his former country. He chooses to fight though and travel to meet good fighters in his division. katsidis is still ascendant, and i'd be hoping for a marquez fight, thinking that if he were able to avoid marquez's clinical boxing skills, and or get marquez on a down-slope night, where he 'ages' in the ring (37 and many battles) then feel he'd have a good chance. katsidis though has had many battles himself and these could impact on him 'in one night' just as they could on marquez...katsidis though, belongs which is what the two boxers you mentioned in your article 'don't'. australian boxing suffers the stain of these two careers in the great sport of boxing.
Paddy
Guest
Nice article Nigel. I don't think there are many boxing fans out there that aren't hurting from the car crash that was the Green vs Briggs fight. Its good to remind people that there are quality Australian boxers out there. I think the media needs easy subjects to focus on, and Mundine and Green do raise the profile of Australian boxing. Not always for good reasons but some media attention is better than none. If they aren't in the news then boxing gets forgotten.
dmac
Guest
it would be great if darchiniyan could piece 2gether 2 english words maybe australia might class him as australian but if he got in the ring and katsidas included with pacquiao or floyd mayweather they would get a boxing clinic!!..they r 3rd rate compared 2 them!!....sit back on your lounge chair mike!!
Midfielder
Guest
Nigel My reading of the tea leafs for what it is worth .. is the Australian media pays so much for the major football codes that understanding other sports, having people who understand other sports as a first preference, or allocate any research money is not done... Meaning I guess that all other sports suffer... Also boxing world wide and particularly in the US ... with Don King and others has developed a name of being a shame... the various groups claiming to have the world champion adds to this.. Further with many in the community boxing is seen as a bad sport this also adds to the media effect...