Anthony Mundane vs. The Raw Deal

Filed in Other by on January 31, 2013

This column aimed up at Anthony Mundine several months ago when Australia’s 'greatest athlete' called into question his most recent opponent, Daniel Geale, and the Tasmanian’s right to identify as Aboriginal.

Some scored the hastily-scrawled diatribe a points decision to Warren. Few leapt to The Man’s defence.

But, then again, The Man doesn’t need defending and your humble scribe should have known better than to think he could upset the great warrior with words published on a largely unknown website and/or through comments from its eminently small readership.

Mundine has dealt with more than his fair share of jabs and jibes down the years – and from an audience as wide as this fire-ravaged and flooding continent of ours.
As Australia’s greatest ever rugby league player he suffered under oppressive regimes that refused to award him the rep shirts that were rightly his.
That his race was the determining factor in leaving him out in the cold was disgraceful. That other indigenous Australians were part-and-parcel in the fiasco perhaps more so.
Since departing the world of league, Mundine has gone on to carve himself a glittering career packed with numerous boxing titles and an eminently commendable record of victories over some of the most underrated names in the fight game.
This alone speaks to Mundine’s standing as a great mentor and a man willing to extend a helping hand to individuals that may be down on luck – or lacking class.
Just being in the ring with a boxer of Mundine’s ilk elevates these chumps to another level, one clearly above their calling, and gives them a hard-earned payday thanks to his indisputable box-office appeal.
With this in mind, Geale should consider himself lucky. Mundine sure as hell won’t give him another shot to make a televised statement to the boxing world. You can decide why.
If not quite Mother Theresa to the world’s downbeat pugs, Mundine is perhaps akin to the Fred Hollows of the fight game.
He brings light back to blind eyes and all with a gruff sense of humour and the occasionally misplaced opinion about minority groups.
In the wake of a unanimous points decision that saw him fall to defeat against Geale in Sydney on Wednesday, Mundine must be wondering how things can have gone so wrong in the ring.
It was a return bout The Man was never going to lose and despite the misguided beliefs of three ringside judges, boxing pundits and casual observers alike, it’s a contest he clearly won.
It should be noted that as far as unanimous points decisions go, this was as controversial as could possibly be.
In his own words, Mundine “dominated the fight” and believed he was “dominant enough to get the victory”.
But it turns out that when you’re the victim of a well-organised, systematic crusade to rob you of your standing as the ‘greatest fighter ever’, you have to redefine ‘dominant’ to prove your point.
And that’s exactly what Mundine has done. He has toned the term down to the point where almost anyone can be ‘dominant’ in any given fight.
They just have to summon the deluded self-worth to view their own performance in a truly one-eyed manner, a task made easier for Mundine in Sydney thanks to a cut he cleverly allowed Geale to open up on the greatest brow in boxing history.
It was obvious to Mundine he’d been robbed and as if that wasn’t enough to prove the point to all and sundry, it was obvious to Sonny-Bill Williams, too.
And that should be enough to make it obvious to everyone that something obviously isn’t right here.
As the post-fight wash-up continues, it feels strange that managerial maestro Khoder Nasser hasn’t agreed with the pair of multi-sport titans.
Not that it’s really his place to since long-term client Mundine opted to cut him loose last year.
Maybe it’s a case of ‘No Khoder = No Choc’. But it seems doubtful. The Man is his own man and everyone knows it.
If it ever becomes a case of ‘Choc = No Cash’ expect Khoder to come running back to the eternally forgiving arms of his star athlete.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that league journeyman Barry Ward reportedly called Mundine a “Black ****” in 1996, tens of thousands of Australians have been calling him a ‘dickhead’ for well over a decade now.
It’s anyone’s guess how many times he’s been referred to as a ‘wanker’ by folks in front bars, school yards and Rotary Club meetings nationwide, but studies** suggest that as often as 12 per cent of times the ‘w’ word is used in Australia it is in reference to Mundine.
But that’s fine because statistics like that only further Mundine’s standing as the ‘greatest’ wanker in the country.
Be aware, however, that stats, like boxing judges, can lie.
Not The Man, though. No way, nuh-uh, never. A scientific fact perhaps best evidenced by just one of his word-perfect pre-fight quotes: “I'm a likable guy, man. I'm easy-going, down to earth.”
It may be now is the right time for him to add 'deluded', 'old' and 'has-been' to the list.
 
 
 
**These studies are believed to be somewhat dubious in nature and may not actually exist.
 
 
 
Photo by Matt King/Getty Images AsiaPac
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Comments (6)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/boxing-mma/punch-statistics-undermine-mundines-moans-over-geale-win/story-fndeeimb-1226571091880

     

     

    Statistics compiled by CompuBox show Geale landed 208 punches from 690 thrown, an accuracy of 30 per cent.

    Mundine landed 141 from 646 thrown, for a 22 per cent accuracy rating.

     

    Never write another piece again to spare the world from your ignorance, thanks.

    • Stu Warren says:

      Thanks for the stats. You've really encapsulated the big fight in a fool-proof manner I obviously couldn't manage.

      I just hope you don't find my next article as offensive or difficult to interpret.

      Cheers,

      Stu

  2. Anonymous says:

    Mundine robbed? What fight were you watching you twit! He was outclassed and outboxed end of story, you are another fool and I'm surprised such a rubbish article is on this great site. Whoever believes Mundine won should get off whatever they are on.

    • Anonymous says:

      Ever heard the expression tongue-in-cheek? Goodness gracious me. In the words of the late great Rex Mossop 'I am so incredulous I can hardly believe it.'

    • Anonymous says:

      Mundine is garbage? …….Oh?…….. how so?………….

      AAA ++++ performance, dynamic mind power, reflexes, athletic ability…. etc etc, from what is considered in many minds to be a garbage race of people, makes me wonder ……who has done what the man has done while being out-casted, treated as a third class human being, downtrodden during his lifetime, we don’t really know how hard he’s had it.

      please play the fight in slow motion and even slower during the action, you may be surprised as i was, because i was watching it live in a pub on a large screen and there was no denying Geale had won it as did everyone else in the room.

      I was dissapointed in mundines layed back performance (but he is 37), until i viewed the fight in slow motion.

      Also turn off the commentary, which only talks up geale most of the time.

      Mundine played the fight game clever.

      Many punches miss Mundine which look like they connect.

      Geale puts on lots of pressure and looks the busier fighter.

      you and many others may be happy to shake his hand.

      2 of the hardest sports you could pick to excell at.

      Getting on the cover of fight night video game alongside Ali……?

      I’ll finish with a loose quote———–

      “Fight Night’s out………….. guess who’s in it…………….?

      “THE MAN”

      • SemiiPro says:

        Mundine has dynamic mind power? And Anthony didn’t grow up in a privileged middle class dynasty? And somehow Anthony, with his non-indigenous beliefs, represents one of the oldest cultures in the world (yeah, maybe 60,000 years older than Islam)?

        I’m not buying the Mundine myth Anon proposes.

        True story