Boxing Ashes between Australia and England when cricket ashes is on

Talipeau out to save battered game.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/talipeau-out-to-save-battered-game-20100826-13u9t.html








Talipeau out to save battered game

August 27, 2010

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"I am training my arse off" ... Junior Talipeau readies for his bout against Sonni Michael Angelo at Cronulla Leagues Club tonight. Photo: Brendan Esposito

The middleweight fighter wants to let his gloves and results do the talking, writes Jamie Pandaram.
Junior Talipeau's lips curl slightly as he recalls his recent sparring session with Anthony Mundine. ''He didn't like my body punches,'' Talipeau says. ''The last few sparring sessions haven't been good for Mundine.''
But instead of getting the better of Mundine in the ring, Talipeau has his eyes fixed on the bigger picture, and has issued a threat to both Mundine and Danny Green, announcing himself as Australia's next boxing pay-per-view king.
''I think they are on the way down, the public can see that,'' Talipeau says. ''That is why their pay-per-view ratings are going down.


''I am going to be the new face of Australian boxing. People need a new face, and that is going to be me. I know it's going to be me.
''I am training my arse off to the limit so I can prove that.''
The reputation of boxing in this country has diminished considerably of late, and Talipeau conceded there must be a radical shift in the approach of fighter-promoters.
''Even I feel the same. The way it is, you feel like you're watching WCW [World Championship Wrestling]. It's all fake,'' Talipeau says.
''I am going to bring back the realness, bring back the toughness.''
Talipeau starts tonight against Sonni Michael Angelo, in all reality a tune-up bout. Angelo is plagued by personal woes stemming from a **** charge and, as a late replacement, revealed he would be training himself, and does not have a great recent record.
If Talipeau is serious about delivering the thrilling extravaganzas pugilism fans are craving, he must dispose of Angelo in brutally quick time and turn his attention to Shannan Taylor, his next opponent.
''I am going to make a statement [tonight] against Sonni. I will beat him convincingly, and then I'm going to make a statement against Shannan Taylor and do what Mundine couldn't [knock Taylor out],'' Talipeau says.
Talipeau's plan is then to fight for the Commonwealth middleweight title against undefeated Briton Martin Murray (20-0, 7KO) in an Ashes boxing event scheduled during the final Ashes cricket Test in January.
''When I win the Commonwealth title, I can bring guys from England here, guys from Japan, the guys who I wanted to fight overseas, I can bring them here,'' he says.
''I don't see anybody else doing what I'm doing, stepping up to the mark and taking on the best guys around. I don't see Rob Medley doing that, I don't see Shannan Taylor doing it, I don't see Mundine doing it.''
Yet we've heard this all before. Fighters who promote their own shows claim to but then line up a procession of ''sure things'' who will provide little more than a comfortable victory. Talipeau (15-1, 5KO) has one loss on his record, a questionable points-decision defeat to Victor Oganov in The Contender Australia reality television series. But he was also on the favourable end of a judging decision in his last fight, awarded a split-decision against Nader Hamdan when most felt the veteran had beaten Talipeau.
If Talipeau is the man to assume the Australian boxing throne, there is no room for close calls and dodgy decisions. His heavy hands must deliver the knockout blows if he is to emulate Mundine and Green's knockout pay-per-view figures. People must be given a reason to part with their money when they've already been stung.
Angelo (16-9-2, 5KO) faces a body-punching barrage tonight at Cronulla Leagues Club. Talipeau's climb starts here, but hopefully his words will begin a climb back from the canvas for the whole game.
The last thing to be expected is for Mundine and Green to slink away quietly.
Not now.

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