MUNDINE WINS! SPLIT DECISION!
Official cards after 12 rounds of boxing: 115-113 Rabchenko, 115-113 Mundine, 116-112 Mundine!
Mundine hands Rabchenko his first loss. That was classic from Mundine. Took a few shots, but just kept scoring in every round. What a performance!
Mundine, in his post-fight interview, said that heart and chin were the things that got him through. You can’t argue with him. It was a very disciplined, and he showed great defence in keeping the young puncher at bay. Very impressively executed from the 39-year-old, especially when you consider the Joshua Clottey fight.
He’s called out Alvarez and Mayweather as his next targets. What do you think Roarers? Is he a chance?
Australia’s self-proclaimed greatest ever athlete Anthony Mundine takes on Russian warrior and belt-holder Sergey Rabchenko for the WBC Silver Light Middleweight Title in Melbourne tonight.
Join The Roar from 9:30pm AEDT for round-by-round updates from the fight, as well as the full results of the undercard.
The hard-hitting Rabchenko comes into this fight undefeated, on fire and ready to swallow tougher opposition.
In his 25 fights since his debut in 2006, he is 25-0 with 19 of them ending early.
That’s an astonishing record.
But Mundine has fought some of the highest calibre fighters in the business in his time, and the same can’t really be said of Rabchenko.
28-year-old Rabchenko won the strap he currently holds from Welshman Bradley Pryce, was ranked 195th in the world. He has been moving up the ranks in quality of fighters before that and since, but he still hasn’t taken on anyone with runs on the board like Daniel Geale or Shane Mosley.
This will be a serious test for the 39-year-old Mundine, who is staring down the barrel of a second straight loss, after Joshua Clottey handed him a defeat earlier this year.
As ever, he has been bullish in the underdog position. Fighting at home, he called out no less than Floyd Mayweather on Twitter earlier this week, saying he’s gunning for one last chance at the biggest name in boxing if he beats Rabchenko.
The bookies have given him no hope, at $4.00 to win. That’s as long as you’ll get for a fighter the quality of Mundine. For all the talk that he’s gone downhill since his peak, he’s still a quality pugilist who can get it done on his day.
He’s also fought bigger punchers than Rabchenko in his time. Danny Green, Mikkel Kessler and Antwun Echols are all names he has faces and beaten, and are more proven than Rabchenko, so how the Belarusian comes in as such a hot favourite has astounded many.
We could be looking at the last fight of Anthony Mundine’s esteemed career. Then again, we could be looking at a rebirth, if he can pull of the upset.
Join us from around 10pm for the round-by-round action, as well as updates from the undercard before that.
Laszlo Motyovszki
Guest
First I happy he won against Rabchenko. If he could have defended against Sven Ottke 13 years ago he would have won more but lost. Chin massive, maybe inherited from his rugby league days.
jordo
Guest
Always one, congratulations Anthony great win.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Agree with that. That was a stitch up. No idea how, after dominating early, he had Rabchenko leading. Barely landed a blow until the seventh in my recollection.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
My view? Doubt it mate. I don't think he'll ever get there. It would be a miracle if he did.
Andrew Petrou
Guest
I bet on Mundine for this fight. I bet on the speed and reflexes of a healthy indigenous sportsman. He shows his people what can be accomplished with confidence.
Nigel Leitch
Guest
Cory Paterson in his second fight was very impressive, first round KO against a guy throwing haymakers. Lucas Browne was disappointing for me, the guy he fought was about 30 kgs overweight. The guy who Zappa was fighting took at a guess 100 headshots, very gutsy to still be standing.
Kavvy
Guest
Rapt he got the win and finished so strong. Not sure where to from here though, the nature of the Clottey loss took the biggest names off the table permanently (FMJ, Canelo) and father time's not on his side. Wonder if he could nab a fight with Trout, would be an irony and maybe some sweet redemption if he won.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
Zappa did look impressive and very business like. The brazilian(?) took a lot of punishment and went down bravely. I didn't get to see any of the other undercards. I heard there was a first round result. Can you shed light on it?
Nigel Leitch
Guest
The 12th round was the best round of Mundine's career. IMO.
Nigel Leitch
Guest
It is sad that one judge was obviously blind, after five rounds one judge had Rabchenko winning, by my calculations Mundine had four and the first round was even.
Nigel Leitch
Guest
Hahaha who are you trying to kid?
Nigel Leitch
Guest
Rabchenko was alot better than the quality of his previous opponents would suggest, great fight.
Nigel Leitch
Guest
Loved the fight, Lenny Zappa and Cory Paterson on the undercard were very impressive too.
Tigranes
Guest
Pat you reckon the Man will get a shot at floyd mayweather now?
Kurt S
Roar Pro
Close fight. Sergey started slow and that may have been his undoing. Mundine never really hurt him, but was relentless in the early rounds with the left jab. The Jab left Mundine in the later middle rounds and that let the boy from Belarus in. Mundine has shown again that he recovers well from being close to being knocked down twice again and finished strongly. Sergey didn't do enough in the last round to warrant the win. He hurt Mundine by attacking the left side of the body all night. At some stages Mundine just couldn't or wouldn't let his left elbow leave his ribs because he needed the protection. It came down to Mundine's experience in the ring and Sergey's relative inexperience. He played into Mundine's hands but was unlucky he didn't hurt Mundine earlier in the round on the 10th and that Mundine has the ability to hold on to his opponent when close to knock down. Mundine can hold on tighter than a baby on its mother's breast. A very tight encounter and when that close will always go to the local guy. A thoroughly enjoyable and enthralling fight. Both men had their moments. The fight was well refereed as well. The ref was not taking too much of Mundine's usual tactics and was stern on Sergey's body shots that were too close to the belt. So all in all the sweet science was the winner tonight.
Duce
Guest
The Man is better then the Russian and green machine.....
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Good to call this one, and thanks to all the people who were hanging round. Plenty of people on for the whole fight, almost 2000 of us at one point. Mundine wins, in what was a very tricky fight for him. I thought those two near fight-ending combos from Rabchenko might have got it done for him, particularly the one in Round 10, but Mundine's 12th got him over the line. Showed the value of constantly scoring from the outside, as he did all night. Cheers!
Realist 1975
Guest
It was a miracle that Mundine lasted this long against a undefeated fighter 11 years younger. Australia should be at the very least proud of him. Well done Anthony.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Mundine's 12th won it for him. The 11th was close, but the 10th was obviously Sergey with that near knockdown.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Rabchenko by my count, but Mundine got the 12th.