Personally.......I regard Nasser as a lying, unethical son of a bitch, but I have to admit that he has handled Mundine brilliantly from a Business viewpoint. So I thought I might take you guys for a journey through the machinations of the mind of this twisted individual........
It is May 2006 ........shortly after the Green fight and Nasser is a worried man....... He knows that Mundine has a Mandatory due against Kessler and this is not a fight that he wants to risk at this stage.......but there seems to be no other option. He either takes the fight or Mundine drops maybe 5 places in the rankings.
Then out of the blue...... a lifeline from Team Palle.........Kessler has requested a postponement of his fight with Mundine so that he can fight Marcus Beyer (the WBC Champion) in a unification bout.
If Nasser agrees, then Palle will guarantee that Mundine will get a shot at the Unified Title....... It will work like this....... Kessler fights Beyer in a Unification Bout........The winner will then defend the Title against the WBC Mandatory in Andrade........The winner of that bout to defend the Unified Title against Mundine.
Nasser wastes no time in agreeing to the deal knowing that If Kessler wins, under WBA regs, he will be promoted to Unified Champion by the WBA leaving Mundine to fight either Lacy or Soliman for the Secondary Title. (He believes a fight against either, is more winnable than a fight against Kessler)
If Kessler perchance loses, Mundine will then fight either Beyer or Andrade which he regards as an easier option.
Also Nasser realises, that in the event of a Kessler victory, under WBA regs, Mundine would have 18 months minimum before he was obligated to fight Kessler.
Time passes....... Kessler does as expected and Unifies the Title and makes his first obligatory defence against Andrade in March 2007.
While Kessler is fighting Beyer it gives Nasser a chance to get some more spending money for Mundine by fighting a real tomato can in Acosta......
While Kessler is defending his Title........ Mundine fights Soliman in the same month......... A fight that Nasser believes is much easier than the Kessler option.
There was no real neccessity for Mundine to fight Soliman as Kessler was obligated to fight Mundine already and in fact Mundine was risking a loss against Soliman (unlikely.......but a risk nevertheless)
Why would Mundine fight for a Secondary Title when he was already guaranteed a shot at the Unified Title?
The answer is obvious........ At no stage did Nasser intend for Mundine to risk a Kessler fight until all options had been exhausted.
He can bleat about the money all he likes, but he never had any intention of enforcing the contract with Team Palle.
Nasser hurriedly arranges a fight against another Tomato can in Nievas...........again more spending money for no real risk.
Palle contacts Nasser to arrange the fight...... Nasser disputes the money offerred by Palle, knowing full well that if he wanted to enforce the Kessler option then he could force a Purse Bid.
Palle was in no position to enforce the fight with Mundine as it wasn't a WBA Mandatory but an arrangement between the 2 parties.
Nasser now has the breathing space that he wants for Mundine.
Mundine will not have to meet Kessler for 18 months.......21 months if Kessler defeats Calzaghe.
If Calzaghe should dethrone Kessler, then Mundine will again have 21 months before he has to risk a fight with Calzaghe.
It's a win......win situation........
Nasser having knocked back the option twice to fight Kessler can now continue to line up Tomatoe Can opponents for Mundine, and Mundine can continue to count his money.
If you don't mind......I'd like to get outside of Nasser's head now........it isn't very pleasant in here.....kinda seedy.....This guy is one sick fucker.
BTW........ I am not saying for certain that this was the way Mundine intended for it to work out, but just on the balance of probabilities......the most likely scenario.
The fact is that Mundine has turned down 2 chances to fight Kessler for recognised Titles in the last 12 months........You tell me the reason.
