Danny Green fights on, warming up for Mundine

Danny Green may have been on the end of two tough losses in his past two fights, but the West Australian has refused to retire, announcing his next bout against American light heavyweight Danny Santiago.

Green says this will be his last fight in his hometown of Perth, where he will face a fellow 39-year old in Santiago. The US pugilist seems to a decent fighter with a strong record – 31 wins, five losses and a draw from 37 professional fights.

But closer inspection reveals that he is currently ranked 120th – yes, 120th – in the world by BoxRec in the light heavyweight division. ‘The Bronx Bomber’, as he is known, has had only four fights since 2007 and has only won two of them.

Santiago’s last fight was in July 2011 against Beibut Shumenov, ranked eighth in the world, in Las Vegas for the WBA World Light Heavyweight title, but he lost. He fought a former Green opponent, future Hall of Famer Antonio Tarver, back in 2007, for the IBO title and lost.

The same year before the Tarver fight he took on Zsolt Erdei for the WBO belt and lost that one too. Santagio is clearly on his way down.

It appears that the American is a relatively easy scalp for Green as he prepares for the mother of all pay-days, a rematch with Anthony Mundine.

While Mundine prepares for his own easy bout with Bronco McKart on July 14 in Vegas, 11 days later Green will tackle Santiago in the Western Australia capital.

Green is moving down in weight and will attempt to get rid of some ring rust when he clashes with Santiago. The American is a name in that he was once on a series of The Contender, but his best days seem past him.

In the press conference Green clearly indicated that facing ‘The Man’ was the one thing on his mind, spending most of the event talking about his rival. “I don’t have to chase Choc. We’ve got offers on the table from world champions to fight, Choc’s not a world champion. That’s the fight he’s called and that’s the fight that Australia wants to see. I think it’s an exciting match-up … but I can’t force the guy.”

Strangely though, Santiago is not a world champion and has never won a world title, but Green has not taken up the option of fighting a bigger name. Green says he has had offers to fight Nathan Cleverley, ranked fifth, and Jean Pascal, so why hasn’t he taken them? Were the offers that bad?

Green has suffered two bad losses in his past two fights. He has won world titles in the past and had a good career. At 39 his time in the ring should be over, lest he do some serious damage to himself. A fight with Mundine is the only thing that stands between him and retirement.

Mundine himself is 37, and despite the conjecture, in decline. Whether he beats McKart or not – and he probably will – its hugely unlikely that the big money US fights will materialise.

Green versus Mundine is the only big fight either boxer has in them, whether they will admit it or not.