Watching IBF Middleweight World Champion Daniel Geale beat Anthony Mundine for 12 rounds, it was pretty clear that father time had caught up with “The Man”.
Unlike their first match up this time around Mundine was the slower of the two. He didn’t move half as well as he used to. His jab, once a weapon that wore down opponents, now had nothing at all behind it.
It is not often in boxing that you see a true World Champion take on an opponents rated so lowly by all of the respected organizations. I don’t think I have ever seen a fighter as confident as Geale was last night against Mundine. He had the swagger of a fighter that knew he was the best in the world, and that the opponents standing across from him just was not even close to the level he was capable of fighting at.
To give credit to Mundine, at the age of 37 he turned up in shape and went the 12 rounds better than most 37 year old fighters could ever hope to. His ability to damage his opponent though looks to have completely left him. Even accounting for a headbutt mid was through the fight and illegal elbows he through throughout the fight, after the fight Geale looked like a fighter that has just warmed up for a bout, not one that had just gone 12 rounds with…anyone!
The decision took a ridiculous amount of time to make its way from the judges to the ring announcer, but the decision was never in doubt. I gave all 12 rounds to Geale. he toyed with Mundine through the entire fight.
Leading into this fight, there was not a great deal of press about it. Then Mundine stepped up and went to his old bag of tricks to get the hype the fight needed. He played the race card, he trashed the National Anthem, the media, Arthur Beetson, Laurie Daley…and of course his opponent. To me it screamed of desperation, and the way Mundine and his buddies carried on after the fight reinforced that.
So now at the age of 37 Anthony Mundine finds himself a fighter in decline. Where does his career go from here?
Does he look to fight Danny Green again? Sure both fighters are at very different weight classes at this point, but for the money they could both make, I’m sure they would be willing to meet somewhere in the middle. The age of both fighters would mean that changing weight classes will have a huge effect on them. Something tells me Mundine vs Green would need to be the last fight of both of their careers.
Could we see Geale vs Mundine III? It all depends on Geale and the plans for his own career really.
Geale only took the second Mundine fight to get revenge for the only loss of his career. As the World Champion he has bigger fish to fry. Normally you’d say that Geale would go back to fighter the higher caliber of opponent he is used to fighting and then maybe come back to give Mundine one last beating, but I just don’t think Mundine would be a decent opponent to face in a couple of years from now. He might not even be fighting at all!
He could look to offer Sam Soliman another fight and pay day based on similar likes to last nights Geale fight. Come home, play the good guy vs bad guy angle, hope to get a decent pay day and then go back to working towards the world title.
I also don’t think that Mundine can carry an unknown opponent any more. People will only look to buy his fights on Pay Per View is they get a chance to see someone they know beat him up. He can no longer ship in some shelf packer from Auckland to get the viewers he needs.
Unfortunately at this stage of his career, Mundine needs to ramp up the WWE style act to get any interest in his fights. With his fighting ability quickly leaving him, the more we will see the outrageous statements and over the top acting from him.
At this stage though, Mundine has become a parody of himself. The end of his boxing career is in sight, and it makes you wonder what he will be doing in a few years from now when he really is just “The Mouth”.
