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A closer look at Danny Green's return to the ring

27th June, 2015
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Danny Green is making another comeback. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
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27th June, 2015
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Last Wednesday popular Western Australian boxer Danny ‘The Green Machine’ Green announced his first scheduled bout since 2012. The 42-year-old Green (33W, 28KO, 5L) will be returning to Melbourne’s Hisense Arena to face 38-year-old Slovakian Tamas Kovacs (26W, 15KO, 1L).

Green was last seen in the ring in November of 2012 besting New Zealand’s Shane Cameron on points in the same arena. While getting up there in age Green has spent his time away from the ring opening up his own gym in Perth and one look at his social media accounts shows he has been keeping in well enough shape for a return.

The ‘Green Machine’ has stated that the reason for returning to the ring was to ultimately score a rematch with fellow Australian and polarising boxer Anthony ‘The Man’ Mundine.

The first fight back in 2006 ended with a decision going Mundine’s way in a bout that at the time was the most watched pay-per-view TV event in Australia and earned both men more than $2.5 million.

Green’s choice of opponent for the comeback was chosen for his similar style to that of Mundine, but outside of the fight announcement you would be hard pressed to find someone in Australia who has heard the name of Slovakian pugilist.

Kovacs will be fighting outside of Europe for only the second time with his first being his most notable fight, a third round TKO loss to Beibut Shumenov in the US in 2013. Kovacs is a relative latecomer to professional boxing having made his debut in 2008 at the age of 30, at the same time as Green was in his first retirement after defeating Stipe Drews for the WBA Light Heavyweight title in Perth in 2007.

Mundine on the other hand is without any clear plans for the time being. A tough bout with American Austin Trout was scheduled for May, but was postponed after Mundine suffered an ear injury. He was ultimately replaced as Trout’s opponent.

Green and Mundine have been trading barbs in recent weeks, but it is Green who is more in favour of having a second crack at Mundine, who still harbours dreams of landing marquee match-ups in the US.

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However, should Green be successful in a couple of fights and Mundine’s American experiment doesn’t work out the money on offer could bring the heated rivals together again.

As for Green vs Kovacs, if Danny Green can enter the ring on August 19 in shape and without too much ring rust he should get the job done. Green owns a slight reach advantage and is vastly more experienced in terms of quantity of fights and quality of opponents and Kovacs has only fought more than eight rounds in three of his professional bouts.

Look for Green to start a little tentatively but compose himself to secure a stoppage in the later rounds or a wide decision victory.

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