Mundines weight problem.cassidy says mundine can do it..

Still counting the cost of that high-calorie Christmas? Just dreading the start of that new year diet? Then spare a thought for Australian world boxing champion Anthony Mundine.
His Christmas dinner was a few chicken wings and a salad. No dessert. Next to nothing for the rest of the day. And now he has to lose five kilograms, or almost 8 per cent of his lean, mean, muscular body-weight, in two weeks.
On January 11, Mundine meets fellow Australian Robert Medley for the vacant IBO world light-middleweight title. But first he must bring his weight below the division limit of a globule under 70 kilograms.

That is a major challenge for a man - if he is to believed, The Man - who weighed 86 kilograms when he quit playing football for the St George Dragons to start boxing, and 76 kilograms when he last fought three months ago. He's now 75 kilograms.
''For the last few days I've been doing it tough. It's going to get tougher. But it's got to be done, if I'm going to make history,'' said Mundine, who wants to be the first boxer to win three world titles in descending weight divisions.
While most of Australia has been eating, drinking and making merry, Mundine, 34, has stopped eating and drinking (as a Muslim he does not touch alcohol) just to fight Medley.
That means no more chocolate (something odd for a man known as Choc), no more sports drinks, a drastic reduction in carbohydrates. So many salads that he already feels he is morphing into a rabbit.
''The thing is, though, I've got to keep training,'' he says. ''At the end of it, I've got to be strong enough, I've got to have enough left in the legs, to get me through the fight. I've got to do it smart.''
To that end he has enlisted the help of champion jockey Jim Cassidy, whose long and successful career has depended upon monitoring, controlling and rapidly losing weight.
When the pair met up at Mundine's Redfern gym yesterday, Cassidy was incredulous when he saw the boxer's body. ''I can't see anywhere the bloke can lose weight. His body's, like, made of concrete.'' He did have some tips, though.
Plenty of grapefruits, preferably straight from the fridge. ''They burn up energy, and you can suck them when you're thirsty.''
Small helpings of spiral pasta, tuna and red kidney bean. ''That gets the air out of your stomach.''
Long sessions in the sauna. Cassidy sits in his for an hour or more watching a movie before going off to mow the greens on his own three-hole golf course.
High-sweat exercises. Cassidy puts on a special plastic sweat suit and trains, often in the sauna, throwing up-and-under punches with his adviser.
So what did Mundine think of the regime? ''To be honest I've never had to diet before. Looking back I think what a silly boy I've been.
''I could have been lot more serious with my diet and with my work ethic. But then I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have to get down under 70 kilos.''
Cassidy is convinced he can make the limit. So is Mundine, though he says beating the weight will be harder than beating his opponent.
''If I can believe it in my mind I can do it in my body,'' he said before gently sparring with the diminutive Cassidy, pummelling with a speedball, whipping up a frenzy with a skipping rope and, no doubt, wondering what wasn't for supper.
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