The Legacy of Anthony Mundine

[Grant]

OK before everyone starts at me.
This post is about what Mundine has done for Aussie boxing in country. I find it amazing that a guy who has never beaten a sitting champion, has won versions of world titles, which in reality were no such thing, has fought, almost exclusively, fighters two or three levels below him, ran so fast from Kessler that most of us on this forum have no time for him has managed to make so much money and keep boxing in the media for the last 6 or 7 years. Was it good for the sport? As far as publicity yes. Even other fighters acknowledge him. Shannon Taylor worships him, Lionel Rose said of one of his fights "the best boxing he has seen" Rick Thornberry called him a great champion in a recent newspaper article.
I consider Darchy. Peden and Rocky to have fa farr exceded him in accomplishments yet it is the "Man" who makes the money and keeps the sport financially viable.
Why? I don't get it but given that professional boxing is about making money and getting out alive he is the most successful Aussie Fighter of all time.
No fighter, IMO, is there for the fans he is ther for the money, and so he should, usually and historically the money comes with the big fights. For Anthony it has come despite the fights.
Aussie Hall of Fame, probably sooner than he deserves to be.
Legacy? Unknown

[dberry]

He created greatly needed publicity and public interest for the sport, there was an air of anticipation amongst the Australian general public I hadn't been experienced for perhaps a decade, and then he started fighting, the level of opponents he fought was soon acknowledged by the general public and his trash talking was soon recognized as little more than hubris.
He has since raped the sport, taking out of it much, much more than he ever initially injected into it and has also reamed his undercard fighters, both financially and with the quality of opponents that he has been willing to pay for them.
He has really characterized the hand picked opponent, fights only locally, paper champion and turned more people off boxing than he ever got interested in it. He has been a definite negative on the sport, in fact proving himself to be nothing more than a week parasite to the sport.

[Hounddawg]

For me He's as Dberry says, Parasitic, he feeds of the hosts(Fans) and sucks them dry until nothing is left, then of course the sport would die with him, now in this mans eyes that would be just as far as he's concerned, because he in his eyes is the sport here, he's the best and no one deserves to be mentioned in the same breath, let alone make a buck after he's gone.

Some people think the man is a different person behind the scenes when the camera is off, me i think it's the man repairing damage control, after verbal bulllshit flows from the mouth to the general public, since he first came into the public eye, he's been telling everyone his the best whether it's League or Boxing, the thing is, in league much like boxing(he's a better boxer than Footy player) he's always been the 3rd or 4th best at his position/Weight, and 2 steps behind the best 3, so no he's not that good, he knew how to grab a headline, he knew which buttons would get the media/public going, it was us who made him and as we have shown, it is us who can ruin him. Whers the ice cream suit with tails and top hats now, were's the rolls royce and limo's, hows the rap game going Mundine.

I hate everything this man stands for, it's shocking to say because he gets in the ring, but it's border line cowardly, it's all scripted, he will never again no what it feels like to enter the ring where his chances are no greater than 50% chance of winning, and at his age and for as long as he has been fighting it's cowardly.

His best wins; Green,soliman,Geale, and all can be argued as to how and when he beat them, none but Soliman 2 were conclusive, and they're all Australian, So I'm sorry the international hall of fame is pretty much ruled out, regardless of how well Green and Geale finish there career, because they're much better fighters now than when they met, and fark it he didn't beat Geale, I said it cause it's true, no sitting on the fence, he plain got beat by Geale, this either way bullshit is just farken Bollox, watch the fight again, and no I'm not L/C in disguise, Geale is the better fighter on ability....not opinion.

He created interest in the sport initially, and that gave us Green,Briggs,Darchinyan,Katsidis,Meehan,Bika,Hussein and the rest and allowed a foothold of other fighters to make there mark, but since 2006 he's turned more people off than he ever turned to the sport.

Call this hate mail or whatever, or try put it down to the fact that I'm pissed at the cup, but it's the closest bit of Journo/writing that most will ever read on Mundine, because no money or threats are being made to me, just a pure and simple impartial observation of a man who could have had me admiring him instead of despising him.

[bigred83]

For me He's as Dberry says, Parasitic, he feeds of the hosts(Fans) and sucks them dry until nothing is left, then of course the sport would die with him, now in this mans eyes that would be just as far as he's concerned, because he in his eyes is the sport here, he's the best and no one deserves to be mentioned in the same breath, let alone make a buck after he's gone.

Some people think the man is a different person behind the scenes when the camera is off, me i think it's the man repairing damage control, after verbal bulllshit flows from the mouth to the general public, since he first came into the public eye, he's been telling everyone his the best whether it's League or Boxing, the thing is, in league much like boxing(he's a better boxer than Footy player) he's always been the 3rd or 4th best at his position/Weight, and 2 steps behind the best 3, so no he's not that good, he knew how to grab a headline, he knew which buttons would get the media/public going, it was us who made him and as we have shown, it is us who can ruin him. Whers the ice cream suit with tails and top hats now, were's the rolls royce and limo's, hows the rap game going Mundine.

I hate everything this man stands for, it's shocking to say because he gets in the ring, but it's border line cowardly, it's all scripted, he will never again no what it feels like to enter the ring where his chances are no greater than 50% chance of winning, and at his age and for as long as he has been fighting it's cowardly.

His best wins; Green,soliman,Geale, and all can be argued as to how and when he beat them, none but Soliman 2 were conclusive, and they're all Australian, So I'm sorry the international hall of fame is pretty much ruled out, regardless of how well Green and Geale finish there career, because they're much better fighters now than when they met, and fark it he didn't beat Geale, I said it cause it's true, no sitting on the fence, he plain got beat by Geale, this either way bullshit is just farken Bollox, watch the fight again, and no I'm not L/C in disguise, Geale is the better fighter on ability....not opinion.

He created interest in the sport initially, and that gave us Green,Briggs,Darchinyan,Katsidis,Meehan,Bika,Hussein and the rest and allowed a foothold of other fighters to make there mark, but since 2006 he's turned more people off than he ever turned to the sport.

Call this hate mail or whatever, or try put it down to the fact that I'm pissed at the cup, but it's the closest bit of Journo/writing that most will ever read on Mundine, because no money or threats are being made to me, just a pure and simple impartial observation of a man who could have had me admiring him instead of despising him.

couldnt have put it better myself mate, well said

[caveman]

yep

[jezzamundo]

Mundine has always liked to make a headline and didn't mind being seen as the 'bad guy' going into fights. I actually had no problem with his choice of opposition until after his win over Danny Green.

He took a fight against Ottke after just 10 pro fights and was doing well until being stopped. He clearly beat Antwun Echols and while it wasn't for a legit title, it was a good win against a real contender. Mundine went into the Siaca fight with an injured ankle and I always believed he got more flak for that loss than he deserved - if fully fit I think he would have clearly outpointed Siaca. He lost a clear decision to Kessler, but despite the scorecards, it was a competitive fight.

In beating Green, Mundine was very impressive, although it was clear that Green struggled to make weight (and really should have always been a LHW). After this fight (which I scored 118-112 to Mundine, but anything up to 119-109 would be acceptable), I had seriously high hopes for Mundine. Although I didn't particularly like him, he was clearly a talented boxer with excellent speed and evasive skills and decent pop. I even liked his decision to drop to middleweight, where I gave him a great chance to beat the likes or Wright, Taylor and Hopkins.

However, in the last four years, Mundine has only damaged his legacy. I won't repeat what others have said (although I agree with everything previously posted), but it has been truly sad to see him waste his talent on under-qualified locals and South Americans (who he has been beating ever less convincingly). His move to LMW is crazy - he'll never land a fight with Mayweather - his poor has guaranteed him little recognition worldwide. I think his best move would have been to have accepted a fight with Danny Green at 79kg. Take a couple of tune-up fights first, but despite Green being drained, Mundine does have a clear speed and stylistic advantage over Green. It would have been interesting to see, but who would have thought four years ago that Mundine would be weighing in 15kg and four divisions lighter than Green?

[Liver Crusher]

Geale has already exceeded Mundines acheivements!

Mundine over the hill! Frail and gooooonnne!

[Grant]

I think that if he had have taken the mandatory Kessler fight, regardless of the outcome, I would have respected him.