BoxRec

Anthony Mundine recovered from being knocked down by supposed no-hoper Yoshinori Nishizawa to retain his World Boxing Association super middleweight title with a fifth-round stoppage at Wollongong Entertainment Centre today.

A fight with the hard punching Green is probably the last thing on their minds after this...

Another notch for the sceptics who argue that Mundine is a bit chinny.

Well, you must admit it doesn't look good, however it might just have been a flash knockdown....

report from SMH.com.au



The previous time Anthony Mundine fought in Wollongong, the crowd threw chairs into the ring in protest at the judges' decision to award him a points victory over Sam Soliman. Last night, there was no doubt after he scored a fifth-round knockout victory over Japan's Yoshinori Nishizawa.

With Oscars front-runners Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe looking on, Mundine survived an early scare to comfortably win his first WBA super-middleweight title defence.

As he promised, the 38-year-old Nishizawa took the fight to Mundine early, scoring a knockdown at the end of the second round. As the bell sounded, he climbed the ropes in the corner of the ring to salute the crowd.

But Mundine always appeared to be in control and referee John Coyle later applied a standing eight count to Nishizawa midway through the fourth.

From there on it seemed only a matter of time before Mundine finished him off. The end came a round later, with Coyle stopping the fight after a flurry of punches from the fleet-footed Australian.

"It didn't hurt me," Mundine said of his knockdown. "I did the job I set out to do tonight and there will be bigger fights ahead."

Mundine's next fight is due to be a mandatory title defence against the WBA's No.1 contender, which is likely to be mid-year.

Despite the short odds being offered about Mundine winning the bout, the 28-year-old former NSW Origin star was still able to draw an A-list crowd, with fellow world boxing champion Kostya Tszyu and entertainers Jimmy Barnes, Sophie Monk and Jon Stevens in attendance along with Crowe and Kidman.

As usual for Mundine fights, there was a strong rugby league presence headed by former Kangaroos captain Mal Meninga, Jason Croker, Clinton Schifcofske, Jason Ryles and Jason Stevens.

New Zealand Warriors owner Eric Watson was also on hand to witness a successful start to the club's first venture outside rugby league when former New Zealand heavyweight champion Shane Cameron scored a knockout win over Melbourne's Richard Kemp in the main preliminary bout.

A 2002 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Cameron was previously based in the US with fellow Kiwi heavyweight David Tua but now fights under the Warriors banner and trains at the club's premises in Auckland.

With another former Commonwealth Games medallist, former junior-middleweight Daniel Codling, having joined the Warriors coaching staff, Watson is looking at putting together a stable of boxers and would have been encouraged by Cameron's second-round defeat of the 119kg Kemp. Earlier, Marrickville's Solomon Egberine successfully defended his Australian welterweight title with a round nine TKO over Gary Comer.

I thought this was going to make up for the fact that i picked Bailey to knock out Ishe..i was wrong..I picked the 3rd for the Aussie.

Im not sure if Mundine is chinny...he went the distance with Echols, even though i never saw the fight..i heard he wasnt hardly bothered by the big punching but chinny Yank.

If Calzaghe has any sense he should ditch the WBO and go fight in OZ,I know ditching the WBO for mr Warren would be like cutting off his own chopper...but it has to be done before we all lose faith.

MightyWarrior wrote:Anthony Mundine recovered from being knocked down by supposed no-hoper Yoshinori Nishizawa to retain his World Boxing Association super middleweight title with a fifth-round stoppage at Wollongong Entertainment Centre today.

A fight with the hard punching Green is probably the last thing on their minds after this...

Wooh hooh! I stuck a tenner on the fight not going nine rounds. You could get 2/1 on that on TheGreek.com. That was giving money away in my opinion.

I must admit that i defended Mundine after the Ottke fight, stating lack of experience and dehydration etc were responsible for the KO and i seemed to be proved correct after the Echols fight. However this knockdown again raises questions about his chin, i doubt he would last very long with Green or Calzaghe (a fight he has been vocal in asking for) for that matter. Was Wolverhampton's own John Coyle the third man in this contest does anyone know?

steve689 wrote: Was Wolverhampton's own John Coyle the third man in this contest does anyone know?

Yes he was Steve. Mundine does seem a bit fragile doesn't he - This Japanese guy was lined up as a walk in the park, and he still puts The Man on His Arse.
Joe Calzaghe would knock him out inside 5 rounds.

Good to see old John still travelling around lending his experience to title fights before his impending retirement. I agree Mighty Warrior, Calzaghe would blow Mundine out within 6.