has australian boxing lost its way ? who is to blame?

hursday May 18, 2006 Boxing :: Damien Souness

Mundine conquers Green Machine

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A unanimous points decision has seen Anthony Mundine overcome arch-rival Danny Green in one of Australia’s most anticipated super middleweight fights at Aussie Stadium last night.
Mundine’s win against the odds, in front of a 30,000-strong crowd, will see him fight undefeated Dane Mikkel Kessler for the WBA super-middleweight belt.
The Man dominated proceedings throughout the 12-round bout as his hard hitting was matched with his high confidence, while Green struggled to have any severe impact with his body shots.
Mundine, who now has a 26-3 record, stunned Green numerous times with a combination of punches to the head, which the Machine found it hard to counter and find a rhythm.
The match up was much more than the World Boxing Association super middleweight world title eliminator; it was the culmination of a six-year feud between two of Australia’s most prominent fighters.
The bout has become personal over the years, before words finally sprung into actions in Sydney.
All three judges awarded the fight to Mundine - 118 to 112, 116 to 113, 118 to 111 - who said after the fight that he “was the better man”.
“I just want to thank Danny for a great fight,” the former NRL star said.
“He put up a good performance, he came ready, he came prepared.
“I was looking for the knockout, I caught him with a few great shots, he can take a great punch.
“Danny fans, bad luck. He's a great fighter, he'll bounce back. We can do it again maybe, soon.”
That rematch has already been planned; with Green's manager ****** Manolikos saying that Perth would be likely to host a second bout between the pair at Subiaco Oval.
Green opened the fight fiercely during the opening round while Mundine turned around his slow start in the third and fourth rounds as he managed to exploit the Western Australian’s defence.
Mundine was left to appeal to referee Terry O’Connor during the ninth round as Green continued to land low blows in a desperate attempt to gain momentum.
The Man remained the fresher fighter while Green continued to bleed and become weary towards the end of the bout as he searched for a knock out blow.
Mundine went the distance and knew his fate following the final bell, yelling to the crowd “I’m the man!” before claiming that Green “knows it!”
Green paid credit to Mundine following the fight and was gracious in defeat.
“Anthony Mundine, a lot has been said in the past, he just fought a better fight tonight, he just beat me fair and square,” Green said on Main Event.
“I have no excuses at all, I trained unbelievable, my preparation was great.
“Anthony was the better man tonight.
“It's difficult to lose in front of these people, I'm holding back tears.
“Some nights you fire, some nights you don't.
“I'm not going to take anything away from Choc.”
Over 50,000 Australian homes paid $49.95 to subscribe to the Foxtel pay-per-view, while over 3000 pubs across the country screened the bout.
Referee O’Connor said the pair “forgot for that (first) half a minute” who was in charge, but then went on to produce a classical Australian contest.
“They both gave their all, it was a great fight.
”It was the greatest fight I have refereed, it was brilliant.”



50000+ at $50 each 3000+pubs and clubs at whatever they pay 30000 fans attending the fight.the Mundine-Green rivalry captured the general publics fascination and they are the only boxers all the general
public know.maybe when they retire or maybe if an
Aussie wins a World Title it will change.cant say i blame
Mundine or Green why go OS when you can make heaps
fighting here under your own promotion.i blame the media for not having much interest in other fighters.
hopefully Daniel and Lenny change that.

 

Because apart from Darchinyan, briggs and green are on their way to retirement, there's no one else to carry the sport.We'll see how Zappa goes-the next Aussie

hope. G'luck to him.

 

How bout Kats?

 

and Geale.lets hope he can buck then trend of Aussies failing in Germany.

 

we need to stage world championship fights down here.

 

Lets hope Geale and Zappa win and then that should happen :good

 

Its australian networks. Boxing is big in the states because of the dedication of HBO & SHO. We only get the PPV's, yet they have weekly cards that are worthy of PPV. They've also drawn in extra fans with shows like 24/7 & contdown. These shows showcase who the fighters are when not in the ring. Were normal guys, not thugs. We have family's, jobs & give our time to help the community. Unfortunatly this is not shown in this country & its classified as a thugs sport. So whats the answer? We need some real people who care about sport running fox & one, instead of money hungry execs from the finance sectors. A great start would be a national golden gloves type tournament in the ametuers. We've got to start somewhere. Maybe SBS could get behind it. We don't need the prize money, we need national recognition of our sporting abilities.

 

you nailed it titch....:welcome

 

Mate, you simply has to accept the fact traditional boxing, whether pro or am, is extremely low profile sport these days. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Fox gives it a miss come June 30. Cage fighting is the in-thing whether we like it or not. Traditional kickboxing is also suffering.

 

The very good fighters tend to venture overseas more quickly these days......in the past, there were lots of domestic fights here, lots of good trainers, lots of good local fighters..but just the elite handful who travelled overseas to try and gain International fame.

In the TV Ringside days, many gyms were graced with international boxers who boxed and lived out here, this helped our locals get better skills and experience, often testing themselves against these imports.......these days, there is no one enticing anyone in UK, USA, Japan, China, etc to come out here....the biggest category of internationals are Phillipine boxers.....who have a habit of falling quickly to the canvas, and handing token international trophies to our local fighters at local promotion nights......most crowds are sick of this.

Boxing enterprenours were less in number in boxings good times; and back then, no one was bold enough or big headed enough to invent their own local alphabetic Wheatbix packaged, World title belt.....

Probably also in the past, poor out of work citizens jumped into boxing to earn a quid; these days the dole office provides them money, whilst others take up drug dealing to retain their liquidity.

Auz socity has stepped up to being mostly Middle classers, with a fairly good economy over many, many years......

Boxing has never been marketed very well to educate or inform about its benefits, affect on kids growing up, disciplinary side or its science; we all knew that boxing was in a slow decline, but no one did anything to stop the slide....all we have had to wave the flag of boxing is many bad mouthed boxers, trainers and managers who have added their greed and arrogance to the **** pots of control.

Has anyone ever noticed that many of the people out there, and around them, consider or perceive that boxing is corrupt, criminal, unhealthy and want it banned.


In my view, only a big lull in the worlds economy could bring Boxing back to its halcian days.

 

Agree with you Tiger.

One thing that would make some difference is TV coverage. Doesn't matter what level it is, boxing needs to be on the TV to prosper again. It was one of the keys in the golden eras of the 60s and 70s - it's what helps create the personalities with the public and lift the overall profile.

The welterweight tournament that's in progress at the moment was NEARLY on free to air TV (ONE HD), if you can belive the organisers. If that tournament, though not full of world-beaters, had been televised FTA, it would have been a big step in the right direction.

But sadly, it didn't happen!

 

Yes, CHB, I agree with you that TV coverage is essential to the life of the sport, presenting its good boxing identities and characters(many), and building boxing's culture (to survive); sometimes the cart pulls the horse though; TV coverage during the TVRingside days was supported by numerous boxing gyms who provided good, competent boxers; these boxers had familys, friends and fans, the public was demanding and crying out for some tv coverage; the light then switched on for tv producers - their next easy step was slotting it in at 9.30pm on a Monday night weekly, a slot that was not popular for the square-headed, typical tv watcher.....not sure that the same family, fan support is there now, almost sure it isn't.

And a warning to producers out there: if we, as a small percentage of crying public want tv boxing again, will producers bring about their own demise like tv Ringside did: with week after week (towards its final days) having the same fighters fight each other, and not dipping into their full pockets to pay for and bring out international stars to fight our local boxers.

I would like to say that Boxing needs money, leadership, a supportive environment and UNITY to survive. I would like to suggest a National Pro Association be established to support and promote the sport, but I might be then suggesting a monopoly strategized by shady gangsters.

Government and politicians will not put up their hand up, or signature to any boxing plans....ask yourselves why.

Fate takes its own rapid course when or if not directed.