Sakio Bika vs. Anthony Mundine at Super Middleweight

Bika wins, Mundine has a china chin and Bika is tough as hell.

 

Bika didn't catch up with Calzaghe - Calzaghe let him catch up - that's the way Calzaghe fights sometimes - plus Calzaghe was badly out of shape and unmotivated for that fight ... the Calzaghe that fought Kessler/Hopkins/RJJ would have blown Bika away...

Don't get me wrong Bika is a good fighter - but Mundine is just better - it will look a lot like Mundine-Green

 

Bika and Green are much the same in terms of range and ability ... Green was just too slow for Mundine - Bika will be too.

As for Calzaghe - Calzaghe made it into a brawl like he has a tendency to do at times - he beat Bika at his own game, but could have beaten him much more convinsingly had he boxed Bika instead of fighting him in close. Ontop of that Calzaghe hurt his hands early, which didn't make things easier.

As for Calzaghe's shape and motivation - he has said both after the fight - and he was grabsping for air in the late rounds - Calzaghe never does that normally.

 

Mundine to hand out a boxing lesson

 

I agree, but for how long? Mundine would outbox him and pick him off at will. However, there are a couple of things to consider:

1. Mundine is used to controlling the pace, rhythm and distance in a fight. He would not be allowed to do so against Bika. Bika closes in the distance very effectively with his overthetop right that tends to land on the back of the opponent's head. Once he's inside, as some posters before wrote, Bika starts throwing continuously.
2. Bika's inside game is rough. He is tough and strong and despite Mundine couldn't push him away to a suitable distance easily. Bika would tire Mundine on the inside and sap him of a lot of strength and energy. Mundine does very well on the inside with short, sharp punches in the opponent's face. Against Bika, he couldn't do that much; Bika ties up fighters well on the inside and keeps his head forward, pointing towards yours as he works the body.
3. Bika's workrate is very high and continuous. He doesn't fight in spurts like Mundine does. He keeps throwing. When he punches himself out, he's good to go within 15-20 seconds. He is experienced enough to tie you up to regain his energy too, in the meantime.
4. Mundine doesn't like pressure and Bika does bring pressure for 12 rounds.
5. Mundine cowers under big loopy shots and Bika's shots are all very loopy. Mundine would get hit a lot and despite his good defence, he couldn't avoid Bika's hayemakers and loops. Bika would land shots to the back of Mundine's head a lot more than he would against other fighters, because of Mundine's tortoise-shell defence.
6. Mundine's speed and reflexes won't help him much against Bika. To do well against Bika, you need range and height and very good movement. Mundine doesn't have that. Mundine does very well against straight-up fighters like Green and to an extent Kessler, who throw straight punches that he can dodge, but he wouldn't do well against someone like Bika, with the very wide punches that he throws.
7. Mundine is not tough or strong enough to take Bika's punishment for 12 full rounds; his chin is not good enough to absorb Bika's powershots either for 12 full rounds.
8. Mundine clearly doesn't have the power to keep Bika off him. Bika would not respect Mundine's power and would fight wrecklessly, with typical abandon, with great effect (Bika is more successful fighting this way than he is fighting a more technical fight)

In my view, Mundine would put on a clinic for the first 7-8 rounds, with Bika getting closer and closer, hitting him more and more, sapping him of energy more and more and eventually grinding him down for a stoppage by the championship rounds.

A couple of years ago, I would have picked Mundine to win by a couple of rounds. Now, my prediction is Bika TKO 10.

 

A couple of years ago it would have been all Mundine. After his loss to Kessler, he came back strongly to defeat Danny Green and Soliman (KO win) in impressive fashion. But since then a couple of injuries and sub par opposition, and he's fell off the radar. It's really up to Mundine, he's no doubt the much more skilled fighter.

 

Yeah, as if Mundine would dare step into the same ring as Bika!:nut

 

Take it from someone who has basically seen all of Mundines fights . . . BIKA

Mundine is the far better skilled fight no doubt but believe me he has slipped big time . . . He is ready for the taking right now im tellin ya as soon as he steps it up a fraction he is gone . . .

Its about the skills and they are gone . . . . Alot of you esp the americans and such might no be aware but Mundine is 33 going to be 34 in May . . . he is getting on

He played Rugby League at the highest level and then made the move to boxing so his body has been through alot . . . Anyways i could go into it more but basically if the fight had happended 1.5 to 2 years ago Mundine easily but now and def as time goes on Bika Bika Bika

 

I think Mundine will get a decision, okay Bika is tough as nuts and can punch and Mundine was stopped by Ottke, but he has improved since (no im not a fan). If a precise puncher like Kessler didnt stop him, then I dont see a scruffy puncher like Bika stopping him either.

Isnt Mundine a 160lber now? Looking for Sturm?

 

Ottke is irrelevant here; Mundine was a newb. Since then, his defence has improved a lot and he got better on all fronts, as you say. Mundine does very well against straight punchers like Green and Kessler, because he knows how to duck punches and his turtle shell defence means he doesn't get hit as much. Bika doesn't throw straight punches. He envelops you with his huge haymakers and he WILL land on you; the only question is how hard...Only person Bika landed less on was a counterpuncher with range and height like Bute, who kept well away from him, fighting a risk averse fight, taking big shots with a very good chin on the inside and keeping Bika honest with his precise, hard straight left, from range. Bika still won 5 rounds! Can Mundine with his short arms counterpunch Bika as effectively? No...and Mundine's turtle shell defence would play right into Bika's wide haymakers. Mundine doesn't have the power or the chin to keep Bika at the mid-range Mundine would be most effective at. He doesn't have the range or stamina to win the fight on his bike on the outside, and on the inside, Bika is tough and hard-chinned and rough enough to rough Mundine up too. With Mundine's speed and reactions (Mundine's defence was based more on reactions than on technique or footwork/headmovement/upper body movement) and defence not being what they once were, as daz52 confirms, Bika's accummulation damage would eventually lead to a late stoppage, imo. Bika could certainly win a decision in my view too...he would land plenty of punches, most of them more effective than Mundine's.

 

I've seen about 20 or so of Mundine's fights, and at his best, he would have outclassed Bika easily, simply because he was a class higher than him. He had underrated power, and was very precise at times, didn't have many big combinations or a high workrate which was was stopped him from being better than he was, but he was still a very high calibre fighter.

Now though, he has declined somewhat and is there to be hit, and hit flush, which was something that very rarely used to happen before, even against the likes of Kessler.

He says he still has a blind spot from his eye injury, and although he speaks a lot of crap, I tend to think he's telling the truth because he has been tagged a few times with shots that he normally wouldnt have been tagged with against fighters with a very weak attacking arsenel.

He still has speed, but has lost a lot of his power and has been unable to KO any of his recent weak opponents.

If they were to fight soon, the fight would be much tougher and Mundine would get tagged a few times. Now, Mundines chin isnt as dreadful as many think, but he isnt the type of fighter who can continue with his gameplan once he gets hurt, he's likely to back off and lose rounds due to keeping himself sure.

I think Mundine can still get by Bika in a close encounter. 115 - 113 or 116 - 112.
A few years ago I would have said that he could have stopped him. Bika and his wide lunging punches would have walked into a straight overhand right that would have hurt him.

 

Mouthdine is finished, has been for a while, and he knows, thats why all the cabdrivers come in, milking the cow. Bika just fight, a real warriorer, no bull**** talk, WHO IS THE MAN ?

 

Good points. Mundine doesnt appear to have the power now to unsettle his opponents game plan. he did this in Soliman 2, but couldnt really do it in his third fight with Soliman from what I've seen (just highlights).
Bika could very well win a decision simply by forcing Mundine out of his usual doings which in my opinion is a more likely scenario than him stopping Mundine.