A turbulent year in the Green zone

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by COULDHAVEBEEN, Dec 15, 2010.


  1. COULDHAVEBEEN

    COULDHAVEBEEN Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Five faces of WA news: A turbulent year in the Green zone

    Fran Rimrod - WA Today - Dec 16th 2010


    A sinister boxing scandal threatened to send Danny Green's career to the mat in 2010, but true to his champion status the WA fighter sprang back to his feet to end the year on a high.

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    A hardworking Perth boy and married father of two who rose to fame after becoming a shining star at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

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    In 2009, Green decided he wasn't set to hang up the gloves and came out of his year-long retirement to fight Anthony van Niekerk at Challenge Stadium.

    But this past year, many boxing observers complained about the quality of the opponents Green was lining up, with several well past their boxing prime.

    There was the fight against Manny Siaca, who was being talked up as a worthy contender given his six world title fights, one of which resulted in the WBA super-middleweight title after he defeated Mundine.

    But that was in 2004. Since then Siaca had fought just six times, with one competitive round in the past two years.

    The Green Machine entered the 32nd fight of his career as the undisputed favourite, and so it came as no surprise that he made short work of the sluggish Puerto Rican, finishing him off in only three rounds.

    Just as Roy Jones jnr before him, Siaca did not turn out to be a serious challenger for Green.

    Despite the champion boxer exclaiming he was "frustrated because I wanted to go 12 rounds", fans started to grow annoyed at the sub-par opponents Green was choosing to fight.

    Then the fateful decision to fight Paul Briggs in July delivered the Green Machine's biggest career blow to date, despite seeing him retain the IBO cruiserweight title.

    On fight night at Challenge Stadium, Briggs went down like a sack of potatoes after just 29 seconds when Green grazed the top of his head with a left jab.

    Briggs shamefully collapsed, stayed down, had to be helped from the ring and was quickly ushered out with a police escort as fans threw insults and an assortment of beverages at the Gold Coast fighter.

    The fight turned into a massive scandal, with bookmakers around the country calling for an investigation and match-fixing fears rife after several unusually large bets were placed on a first-round knockout of Briggs.

    Green's protest was immediate and angry, branding Briggs a "dog" who wouldn't get paid a cent to a Challenge Stadium crowd baying for blood. He apologised to his fans for the farcical fight and became subjected to an official boxing inquiry after accusations he had taken part in a sham contest alongside his unworthy opponent.

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    Even his former trainer and mentor Jeff Fenech twisted a knife into the wound, saying Green should put his hand into his pockets and give his fans their money back, demanding he defend his title against worthy opponents.

    The inquiry later found Briggs guilty for not disclosing his serious health issues before the fight.

    Green was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the bitter taste the scandalous fight had left in the fighter's mouth remained.

    The Green Machine's image needed resurrection and his decision to take on the virile, young and undefeated American BJ Flores was hoped to deliver just that.

    Unlike his previous opponents, Flores - known as "El Peligroso", which means "The Danger" - had an impressive fighting record and was known for his size, speed and power.

    "He (Flores) is an undefeated fighter, what more could you ask for, we are giving Australian fans what they want to see," Green said before the November bout.

    "I've never faced anyone inside a boxing ring that big."

    And the clash turned out to be nothing like Green's previous fights, with the experienced boxer punching through 12 agonising rounds to finally clinch victory over a confident, title-winning hopeful.

    "I out-hustled him," the exhausted West Australian said after the fight. "I just had to be smart."

    Everyone - from Green, his management team, boxing authorities and the sport in general to his diehard loyal fans - breathed a sigh of relief as the danger of Green's title defences becoming a joke evaporated.

    It was pandemonium not only at Challenge Stadium, but also sports bars and pubs around the city, when Green's loyal fans watched their hero fight his way back to the top.

    It took a clash with a competent up-and-coming fighter in Flores to go some way to restoring Green's image and cement his spot that suits him so well - the champion of the world.

    And maybe this glorious victory brought the WA champ a tad closer to where we all want to see him: either fighting big names overseas or getting in the ring one more time with Mundine.
     
  2. TheDuke

    TheDuke Let me marry Boxed Ears Full Member

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    And journalism is supposed to be a difficult profession to gain a foothold in.
     
  3. the beaver

    the beaver Guest

    I couldn't be ****ed reading it all.
     
  4. COULDHAVEBEEN

    COULDHAVEBEEN Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    The yellow bits are plenty enough Beaver, and Duke, the 'real' journos must already be on holidays mate.
     
  5. TCboxa

    TCboxa Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    We could ask for a fighter who is active and within the scope of boxers that Green Machine promotions claims Danny is able to defeat, Cunningham, Haye, Holyfeild etc

    The Germans have lured Cunningham to their shores many times, Green was able to get RJJ here are we supposed to honestly belive he cant get Cunningham to fight on our shores aswell? Cunningham imo would retire Danny from boxing for good he would beat him up so badly.


    Well Danny, the limit is 200LB Mr Champion of the World, try fighting some more real cruserweights and you wont have such a sook next time and possibly may engage instead of giving us a boring fight against a bloke who hasnt fought in 18 months, the Green Machine should have been able to knock BJ out, after all Green Machine did knock out a ledgend to become a ledgend only to fight bums and washed up fighters.

    He still stinks to me, until he fights one of the top 3 title holders my tune wont change.
     
  6. stiflers mum

    stiflers mum Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    top 15 will do me.WBC champ is a possibility.probably
    be Cameron though.
     
  7. TCboxa

    TCboxa Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Cameron is a step backwards, Flores was rated higher than Cameron, why take another step backwards? If it does happen i hope Cameron gives him a licking, i wonder what weight they will make cameron come in at? They may actually allow him the full 200LB limit as they wouldnt consider him to be any threat. Lets home Cameron proves them wrong but i doubt it, he hasnt looked to impressive his last few fights.
     
  8. stiflers mum

    stiflers mum Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    he looked ordinary against Ammann 3kg over CW how did
    he look against McCracken at CW?
     
  9. TCboxa

    TCboxa Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    He looked much better against McCracken ill give him that much.
     
  10. dawsosj

    dawsosj Boxing Addict Full Member

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    danny would still give cameron and absolute shellacking, rumours about the polish champ being the next opponent have been thrown around, he actually beat steve cunningham back in 2007 i think
     
  11. TCboxa

    TCboxa Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I got about 10 calls from some leb thug wannabe this arvo, from a private number. Making threats about what ive wrote on ESB in ref to religion, lucky for some of you guys these idiots dont have your phone number lol, i hung up then the guy called back so i let have a spill, blah blah, ok then it phones again for the 11th time, so i fire up a bit and its Birchy?

    Claims its his first call, mmm ok. Only problem is the lebs are speaking their dialect in the background and its the same voice that just called me moments ago, Birchys at the gym with them and has my number so he has given it to the thugs.

    Birchy then wants to have a fight with me at any weight on anyones show, so i say to Birchy when Green fights Cunningham or any of the other two CW title holders ill fight him on the same card! hahahaha

    Might be time to change my number.
     
  12. cedrichw

    cedrichw Well-Known Member Full Member

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    whilst I agree with some of your thoughts on Green surley you cannt bag him for not fighting someone that would beat him so badly and retire him, it is a good decision for mine
     
  13. TCboxa

    TCboxa Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Well yes and no, if his camp didnt make such stupid claims like defeating Haye, he cant get cunningham out here cause he wants to much money etc etc dribble dribble dribble then i wouldnt be so negative about the guys game. He should just admit it now he wont defeat any of the top 3 CW title holders and is just having some fun with the lowly IBO belt whilst setting up a nice retirement fund for himself, in essence he is a copy of the man he despises so much in cumdine.

    If he wants to be taken seriouse he needs to drop down to LHW and have a real crack, **** off the IBO belt as he has floged it enough and more and more people are waking up to his stink sht fights.

    See Ced i can answer your Qs that are about boxing np ;)
     
  14. dawsosj

    dawsosj Boxing Addict Full Member

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    tc you seem to have such a vendetta against business in boxing? i dont know about you but if i could maximise my profits without leaving home and still entertaining crowds(which danny does still do to the mainstream public), then i know i would do it. why would he fight a guy who can do damage to his money making and also possibly to his physical health, to gain the respect of a networking sociopath?
     
  15. TCboxa

    TCboxa Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    my introduction to boxing was Mike Tyson. The guy fought anyone they put infront of him, he was the best in the world back then and i recall being just a boy watching him on free to air TV in Wagga at my uncles home.

    Tyson was fighting a guy twice his size and i commented to my uncle and said that the smaller guy (Tyson) was going to get a beating, my uncle said i bet you 5$ the bigger guy doesnt last 2 rounds. Tyson knocked him out in 1 and i was a Tyson fan for life lol ... my dad took me to an old school heavyweight to learn the ropes, the guys name was Reno Zuric and he fought anyone they put infront of him. I was taught that it didnt matter how many fights the other guys had, u have two arms and two legs just like him so get in and have a go, its why having only 7 amateur fights i took fights against guys who had upto 40 amateur bouts and were seasond amateurs.

    When Dannys people try to sell to the public that Dannys a world champion capable of defeating any CW in the world but they are all too chicken to fight him i cant help but laught and point out the obvise.

    As long as people see it for what it is likewise with Dannys people and stop this talk of Cunningham, Haye etc then its all good, im not much diffrent to the guys who despise of cumdine, i think Green and Cumdine are as bad as each other and have been pulling the wool over the publics eyes for some time now, Danny lies through his teeth and that Clip Zelky put up has proved that to me, he is a grub just after the money, claimed he never come back for the money as ive pointed out in another thread but whats he doing? fcking hypocrite lyer m8, cant stand it.

    Bring back the real warriors of boxing, guys like Katsidis. Now thats one hell of a fighter, willing to put it all on the line, not like these pansies in Green and CUmdine.