Time to end the Circus that is Australian Boxing

To borrow a line from former Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating....it’s the loss Australian Boxing has to have.

It's time for a new name to go up on the marquee and end the circus, that Australian Boxing has become.

If Garth Wood defeats Anthony Mundine next Wednesday night, then Australian boxing may finally be able to achieve exactly that.

The Circus has gone on too long, and it has to stop...The ringleaders, Mr Mundine & Green.

For so long they have been the bright sparks of the sport in this country, but now simply doing the sport more harm, than good.

For Mundine, it’s been a decade long charade of “wanting the best”, and yet giving the Australian public nothing but mismatch after mismatch.  Mundine calls himself a “3 Time Multi-Division World Champion”, yet he has never won anything more than an interim title.

When reigning WBA Super Middleweight Champion, he vacated the title rather than take on Mikkel Kessler, a fighter who beat Mundine comfortably in their previous encounter.

After the controversial win for Mundine over Daniel Geale, the IBO demanded a rematch between the two, only for Mundine to again vacate the title, than honour there request.

And what is not known to many is that word is Mundine allegedly also pulled out of guaranteed World Title fights against both Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and Gennady Golovkin in the past twelve months.

 So it poses the question...what exactly does he fight for??

The simple answer is money. Team Mundine has done very well for themselves, off the Australian publics back, offering mismatches and chasing “world titles” that the general public unknowingly swallow up each time.



Whilst he may attack Team Mundine over this approach, Danny Green is no better.

Just this week he has announced he will be fighting, Antonio Tarver, for the IBO World Title in July, in Sydney.

Tarver is 42 years old and has fought once in the last three years.

It’s a common trend that seems to be emanating out of the Green Camp in recent fights.

His most recent fight was against BJ Flores, a fighter who at the time was undefeated, but also a fighter who had also been inactive for 18 months. Whilst a big step up for Green given his previous fights, Green won comfortably and filled many of the boxing public with renewed optimism, only to again this week roll out Tarver.

Before Flores, it was Manny Siaca.

A man again, who hadn’t fought for a year and who in that last fight, fought as a Middleweight.

He came up against Green, as a “Cruiserweight”, a four weight division increase.

Before Siaca, it was Paul Briggs. A fighter who had been retired for three years, and who retired for medical reasons...we all saw how that one turned out.

But the farce doesn’t end there.

Danny Green credits himself as the IBO “Cruiserweight” Champion of the world, yet he has never fought at the 200 lbs. Cruiserweight limit.

Each fight Green has had since winning the title has been contracted to be fought at an agreed catch weight under the cruiserweight limit, and closer to Green more comfortable weight near the Light-Heavyweight division.

In fact in Green’s last fight against BJ Flores, financial incentives were included in the contact for Flores to come in lighter still, than the agreed catch weight.

This is something that the “great” Manny Pacquiao does as well.

There is a simple factor that both Mundine and Green have used to make themselves very rich, and that is the naivety of the Australian public.

Boxing is all about, minimal risk for maximum return.

That’s why fights against Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver are more attractive than those against Marco Huck or Steve Cunningham.

Many, like myself, that have a keen interest in the Boxing scene, knew Roy Jones was washed up long before he came to these shores  to take on Danny Green last year ( I even wrote a Roar article about it). However Roy Jones, offered marketability. He was a name fighter, that the common man knew, and with the right sales pitch, it could do big numbers financially...and did.

The much trumpeted line given after Green’s demolition of Jones, “if you beat a legend, you become one”....is almost as farcical as me challenging Muhammad Ali to a fight today, and when defeating him, calling myself “the greatest fighter of all time”.

Green’s win over Jones gave him recognition on a global scale, but rather than chase big fights and world titles, Green decided to offer us the garbage that he has.

Again, it shows what he is fighting for...



So that is why a Garth Wood victory, next Wednesday night, may see one part of this “circus” come to an end.

It is time to usher in a new era of Australian Boxing, and highlight the next batch of superstars continually overshadowed by Green & Mundine.

What happened to the days of Jeff Fenech and Kosta Tzsyu, fighting anybody and everybody, with a desire to be seen as the best in the world.

It’s time the Australian Public, learnt the names of the next generation such as –

Michael Katsidis, who next week fights for the WBA/WBO interim lightweight world titles against Roberto Guerrero.

Daniel Geale, who next month fights for the IBF Middleweight Title against Sebastian Sylvester

Vic Darchinyan who also next month fights for the IBO Bantamweight Title against Yonhy Perez.

Other names to include on this list are Lenny Zappavinga, Billy Dib, Will Tomlinson, among others.

The Australian media don’t want to offend their “golden geese” but telling it how it is, and I have had many an article, I have written returned to me, for straying from the Green/Mundine narrative. But as a lover of the sport, I have seen this farce go on for too long.

Personally I feel, Garth Wood has his work cut out for him in defeating Anthony Mundine for a second time later this month, but a Wood victory will give the Australian Boxing landscape a massive shakeup...something that is long overdue.