It's time for Mundine to let his actions speak loudest

 

 At the end of the day action speaks louder than words and in the career of Anthony “The Man” Mundine, sadly the words have always outweighed the action.

Talk is cheap in all areas except the fight game, where it has some importance.

It can sell fights and it can get you fights, but ultimately it’s your actions in the ring that decide whether you get another one.

There’s an argument that talk is exactly what has got Anthony Mundine this fight, and having seen the build-up it’s probably the reason you and I will hand over our $50 to watch it.

But behind all the talk and bravado, Mundine’s legacy is simply one of unfulfilled potential.

He has spent the last twelve months calling out the biggest names in the sport – Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

Yet his only true pathway to getting to the big names was his option to face interim WBA Junior Middleweight champion, Austin Trout with Mundine being the mandatory challenger to Trout’s title.

Mundine turned the fight down.

Trout went onto fight WBA Super Junior Middleweight Champion Miguel Cotto and beat him, which has him now in line to face the upper echelon of the boxing world.

See what I said about action speaking louder than words.

In saying all that, Mundine has compiled a legacy that doesn’t necessarily get the recognition it deserves.

He walked away from the NRL in his prime to take up the hardest professional sport there was.

He has no Amateur experience, despite having a handy boxer in his father.

The man he will stand opposite of on Wednesday night had an Amateur career that included a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal and an Olympics.

Mundine took on a boxing legend in Sven Ottke in his 11^th Professional Fight, and although we all know how it ended, anyone who watched the fight knows he was more than mixing it with the German for the most part.

He is a three- time World Champion and there is no denying he has rejuvenated the sport in Australia in the last thirteen years, yet is consistently voted one of the most hated sportspeople in the country.

He is loved by some, disliked by many, and I know I don’t have to outlay the reasons why.

His career could have been anything. He had a lightning jab, great power and the profile and showmanship to match the big names. But he just never took the shot.

He made $700,000 in his first fight, figure fighters of lesser profile struggle to make in World Title fights. A figure Daniel Geale has only just managed to attain in the last two years, and Mundine is the only fighter to have had all his fights broadcast on pay per view.

Since Mundine and Geale fought last in 2009 their resumes have taken vastly different courses.

Mundine – Falliga (17-5), Medley (27-2), Jerez (30-12), Waters (20-2), Wood (10-2), Toliver (23-6), Alvarez (26-3) and McKart (53-9)

Geale – Barbosa (22-5), Kariuki (21-8), Karmazin (40-3), Sylvester (34-3), Albert (24-4), Adama (20-2), Sturm (37-2)

Only one of Mundine’s last eight opponents have been rated in the Top 10 in any organisation, despite him calling for the top fighters on the planet.

Geale on the other hand has won both the WBA and IBF Middleweight World Titles, and fought in four World Title fights.

Does Mundine want to win a World Title and a shot at fulfilling his potential or does he simply want another tidy payday and the limelight, perhaps one final time.

A victory for Mundine and the IBF Middleweight title is a hell of a bargaining chip to entice a big name in the ring.

There is even talk the winner will be granted a unification fight with Gennady Golovkin, the now WBA Middleweight Champion, after Geale was stripped of the title for taking the Mundine fight.

A defeat and the glimmer of light that remains in Mundine’s career will surely fade, and I expect Mundine to have a final money spinning fight against Danny Green later this year, before stepping away.

In Boxing, talk may line your pockets with gold, but it doesn’t put any around your waist.

Mundine will have to earn that through his actions in the ring on Wednesday night.

Follow Adam on Twitter - @adamsantarossa