Anthony Mundine

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Anthony Mundine
Statistics
Real name	Anthony Mundine
Nickname	"Choc" or "The Man"
Weight	Super middleweight
Nationality	Australian
Birth date	May 21, 1975
Birth place	{{{birth_place}}}
Style	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	31a
Wins	28
Wins by KO	22
Losses	3
Draws	0
No contests	0

Anthony Mundine (born 21 May 1975) is a boxer, former Australian rugby league player of Australian Aboriginal and Anglo (white) descent and WBA Super Middleweight Champion. Mundine was trained by his father, Tony Mundine, who was a middleweight contender during the 1970s. His Mother's name is Lyn Mundine

Mundine has had a stormy relationship with the media.[1] His conversion to Islam in 1999, self-promotion and outspoken opinions have created a love-hate relationship with the Australian public.[2] He was named the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Person of the Year in 2000.

Contents 1 Rugby League 1.1 Playing statistics 2 Boxing career 3 Mundine's Rivalry with Danny Green 4 After Green 5 Comments regarding the September 11 attacks 6 Music Career 7 Sources

[edit] Rugby League

Mundine played junior rugby league for Hurstville United before signing with the St. George Dragons in 1993. He played in the 1993 Grand Final, which the Dragons lost to his future team, the Brisbane Broncos.

In 1994 he represented the Junior Kangaroos that beat Great Britain U’19s in the curtain-raiser to the Australia v. France Test at Parrmatta Stadium.

In 1996 he played in another losing Grand Final, this time against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. At the end of that season he announced that he was signing with the Brisbane Broncos in the Super League competition.

In 1997 he played 18 games for the Broncos, scoring 3 tries.[3] He also played in his first winning Grand Final team, beating the Cronulla Sharks. In 1998 he returned to the Dragons, and remained there until his retirement from rugby league at the end of the 2000 season.

Mundine was selected to play for New South Wales in 1999 in each of the three matches in the State of Origin series. He was disappointed that further representative honours did not follow, and believed that his representative opportunities did not reflect his abilities and achievements at club level. He raised the issue of racism as a possible explanation for this. He played in his last Grand Final in 1999, losing to the Melbourne Storm.

At the end of the 2000 season, he rejected a record rugby league offer of $600,000 in order to pursue a career in boxing. In early 2005, he announced he was to make a return to rugby league, but has yet to do so.[4]

[edit] Playing statistics

Team	Years	Matches	Tries/Goals/Field Goals
St. George Dragons	1993-1996, 1998	86	33t-3g-2fg [5]
Brisbane Broncos	1997	18	3t [6]
St. George-Illawarra Dragons	1999, 2000	33	19t
New South Wales	1999	3	1t

[edit] Boxing career

Mundine fought his first professional boxing match in 2000, at the age of 25. After no amateur career, his first sanctioned fight was against the 41 year old middleweight Diesel "Diehard" Jackson. Only 10 professional bouts later Mundine fought for his first world title against long reigning IBF supermiddleweight champion Sven Ottke in January 2001. The fight ended suddenly after 10 competitive rounds when Ottke landed a blow to Mundine's temple that left the latter unconscious on the canvass. Despite this dramatic loss, he returned to the ring, promising to fight again for a world title. He went on to claim the vacant WBA Super Middleweight title with a unanimous points decision over Antwun Echols on September 3, 2003, in front of his home crowd at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. He successfully defended his title once, before losing it in a hesitant performance and split points decision against Manny Siaca.

Mundine failed in his attempt to re-gain the WBA super middleweight title after losing by decision to Mikkel Kessler on August 6, 2005 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Despite the loss, many people believe that his bout against Kessler was the best he had fought, demonstrating a willingness to fight toe-to-toe with world class fighters.

[edit] Mundine's Rivalry with Danny Green

Mundine's biggest Australian rival is the Perth-based Danny Green. In 2001, Mundine called Danny Green a bum, and stated that Danny would be a "no hoper" against him. This was at the time when Green was still being coached by Jeff Fenech. Ever since 2001 Danny has wanted to fight Mundine. The two boxers finally, after much anticipation, fought on May 17 2006, at Aussie Stadium, Sydney. The bout was one of the most anticipated in Australian boxing history, and was thought to eclipse the attendance record of 37,000 when Jeff Fenech fought Azumah Nelson in their rematch in 1992. Green became the slight favourite about 2 hours before the bout. Mundine won convicingly by outboxing his opponent over the 12 rounds. The bout was scored as follows: Judge Michael Lee 116-113, Judge Pinij Prayadsub 118-111, Judge Derek Milham 118-112. There is suggestion an 'automatic rematch' clause applies to the fight.[7]

[edit] After Green

Mundine's next fight was against Argentine boxer Ruben Acosta on Nov. 15 at the Entertainment Centre in Newcastle.

Mundine went on to win the fight with Acosta, beating him by TKO in the 4th. While the Argentine battled hard, and connected with several blows on Mundine, he was never in the contest. Mundine's patience soon wore thin, the former WBA world champion incensed by chest-pounding taunts from the South American. While Acosta twice had Mundine against the ropes in the first round, his series of blows did little to unsettle the crowd favourite and few connected. As the fight wore on Mundine's sharp left jab started to find its mark. Acosta continually loaded up on counter punches, his right hook finding the mark but hardly rattling Mundine.

Mundine said of the fight: The ones on the head I felt because I'm not going to lie, and I don't like to get hit, and I usually don't get hit, but he definitely got me with a couple of shots. But everyone knows I'm in superb condition and everyone knows I can take a shot.

Mundine also said this about his boxing future: The WBA belt is up for grabs and it could be one of those fights that Australians want to see, with Sam Soliman in a good position. He is ranked No.3 and Jeff Lacy is No.2 so it's up to the WBA who they want me to fight. "I want to regain the belt and be a reigning champion for a long time".

Mundine again nominated Kessler, who won a points decision over him in Sydney last year, as his first priority if he wins back the belt he lost to Manny Siaca in 2004 but the Dane's camp appears determined to avoid a re-match.

Mundine has already stated he doesn't want to fight Soliman again saying: if it is Soliman it's not going to be a very nice affair but we have got to do what the WBA say and if they want Soliman they'll get Soliman.

I want to fight the best out there and it doesn't matter who it is, if (Soliman) is number two in the world like they say he is then bring him on, I'm number one.

I don't particularly want to fight him because he is awkward, unorthodox sort of orangutan when he fights but if that's what people want that's what I'll give. If Lacy comes whatever, I don't really care. I'm willing to fight Mikkel Kessler, I'm willing to fight Joe Calzaghe and willing to fight Winky Wright and Jermain Taylor. I'm looking to do big things and become one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world."

It was announced on December 12th that the Mundine-Soliman rematch, dubbed `The Man, The King - The Fight for the Crown' will take place at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on March 7th.

At the press conference for the fight, Mundine announced that the Soliman fight could be, "the easiest of my career".

Soliman still maintains that he was robbed in their 2001 bout, but says that his stratergy for the rematch will be to do more of the same.

"One of my strategies is to stay the same as we did last time Soliman said. The only difference is this time there'll be 300 punches thrown around, not two or three here and there, and I'll outbox the guy like I did last time.

Mundine said of their last fight, "I was an amateur really, I mean it was my seventh fight, eighth fight or whatever. Any boxing expert will tell you that watched the fight clearly that I won the fight pretty simply. He had five or six years before I fought him the first time, now I've had another four, five years to grow. He's in big trouble and he's going to know it. I could be the first guy to stop him."

Mundine commented on Solimans tactics saying, "That's why you'll see I'm so great, because I'm fighting all these different styles. Big guys, powerful guys, guys like Soliman - smaller, quicker, faster, throws more punches - but you'll see I'm so great because I'm going to adapt to every style and win. He's going to realise after the third or fourth round ... that I'll be ready to throw 1000, 2000 punches if I have to. I'll do what I have to do to hurt him and to win. It's not going to matter if he throws 5000 punches because 4992 of them are going to miss. My defence is impeccable."

Mundine said of his boxing future,"I'm just looking to do big things, fight the best out there. Obviously it's got to be economically right, whether it's Kessler, whether it's Calzaghe, whether it's Taylor, whether it's Winky Wright. If I beat Soliman convincingly it'll send shockwaves through the world. They think that Kessler's the best to come out at the end of the last 50, 60, maybe 100 years. I matched it with him and he knows he was in a fight and the next time I get him I'm going to beat him too.

On 7th March 2007, in a match touted as the most highly anticipated of 2007, Mundine secured the WBA Super Middleweight title with a decisive 9th round knockout win over fierce rival Sam Soliman. Mundine dominated throughout the entire match, knocking Soliman down in round 2 and twice in the ninth round on the way to victory.

Mundine is set to go to Panama City to collect his belt and discuss his first defense with WBA officials within 3 weeks of the fight.

Preceded by Sven Ottke (vacated)	WBA Super Middleweight Champion 03 September 2003–05 May 2004	Succeeded by Manny Siaca
Preceded by Mikkel Kessler Elevated to Super Champion	WBA Super Middleweight Champion 07 March 2007–Present	Succeeded by Incumbent

[edit] Comments regarding the September 11 attacks

In 2001, Mundine commented on the September 11, 2001 attacks. He criticised the American Government, claiming that its foreign policies had helped to foster an environment in which terrorism could flourish. Previous comments have suggested that he [Mundine] supported terrorism, which caused a barrage of heated comments from the media, directed at Mundine. In one interview when asked about what he thought about Australian troops joining Americans in Afghanistan he stated:

"I really feel that it's not our problem. They call it an act of terrorism but if you understand the religion and our way of life it's not about terrorism, it's about fighting for God's laws and America's brought it upon themselves (for) what they've done in history and so on."^[8] Mundine's stance attracted some vocal critics at the time.

[edit] Music Career

After appering as himself in the music video Like A Dog by the Australian rock group Powderfinger and featuring in beatboxer Joel Turner's single "Knock U Out", Mundine has released his own debut single, "Platinum Ryder". The film clip to Platinum Ryder created controversy for the burning of the Union Jack and a photo of Prime Minister John Howard. His album, entitled Dreams is set to be released in May.

• Has played in 4 Rugby League grand finals in his 8 years of playing the game. He was in the league from 1993 - 2000 and appeared in the 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1999 finals.
• His nickname "choc" or "choco" comes from his childhood sweet-tooth and liking of chocolate
• Was introduced to Roy Jones Snr by his son Roy Jones Jr. Roy Jones Jr told his father that Mundine was "just a raw talent with huge potential".

[edit] Sources

• Anthony Mundine at stateoforigin.com.au
• "The Paper" on the reaction to Mundine's comments on 9/11
• "Mundine wins bout and gets out quick", Sydney Morning Herald, December 11 2005
• Walter, Brad "Dragon-heart Mundine is keen to sign", Sydney Morning Herald, April 27 2005
• Smith, Amanda "Political Football", ABC Radio National, November 2 2001
• East Side Boxing website
• Brisbane Broncos website
• History of St. George Dragons website
• Bronconet website
• Danny Green vs Anthony Mundine
• 'The Mouth' Mundine to enter politics, Herald Sun, August 11 2006 (note: dead link)
• Greens and Labor pick candidates The Glebe, September 5 2006
• [9]