Green looks to the light-heavies...
Posted: 20 Sep 2006, 07:47
Aussie puncher Danny Green looks to bounce back from a beating at the hands of Anthony Mundine when he takes on Jason DeLisle in a 12-rounder at the Challenge Stadium in Perth today.
"The Green Machine" moves up to light-heavyweight to meet a fellow Aussie twice hammered by Sheffield's Clinton Woods.
Four months ago, Green suffered a unanimous points defeat to Mundine in front of a Sydney crowd of 30,000. It was a bitter pill for the ex-WBC interim champion, who had stopped 19 of his 21 victims going in but rarely troubled better-boxing Mundine and picked up a broken nose for his pains. He nodded graciously at his arch-rival at the final bell. Regrettably, it was a defeat that triggered ugly scenes in towns and cities across Australia.
One man died.
So Danny is back quickly in an attempt to put it all behind him. He already holds a win over the tough but raw DeLisle, kayoing him in five rounds for the vacant OPBF super-middleweight title in Penrith in June 2003 - but it was a war until Green finally overwhelmed his man, and DeLisle, nicknamed "The Nailer", holds an amateur win over him.
DeLisle is looking to shrug off a one-sided defeat himself. The Sydney man was given a boxing lesson by Woods in a challenge for the IBF light-heavyweight title in Sheffield in May, before he was taken out with a cracking right uppercut in the sixth. Delisle had lasted into the 12th with Woods two years earlier in an IBF title eliminator, also in Sheffield, and put the local star down in the first.
The latter is more an indication of Woods' improvement than any deterioration in DeLisle, who was already 28 when he turned pro after failing to make the 2000 Sydney Olympics (Green made the Games) and is still a reasonably fresh 34-year-old. Green, however, has a worn feel about him at 33. After kayoing DeLisle in 2003, he put in two huge efforts busting up and twice flooring Markus Beyer in a challenge for the WBC super-middleweight title in Germany (he was disqualified in the fifth for sticking the crust in) and flattening Canadian star Eric Lucas in six equally bruising rounds in front of 10,000 in Canada for the interim title (while Beyer recovered from his cuts).
But then came signs of deterioration. He suffered exhaustion outscoring New Zealand's Sean Sullivan in 2004 in Perth over 10 rounds, was floored by Argentina's Omar Gonzalez - the same Gonzalez who lost in 110 pathetic seconds to Brian Magee - before winning on cuts in the fifth, outsmarted by Beyer in their WBC title rematch in Germany, a fight many fancied Green to win, and punished by Mundine last time out.
Has DeLisle caught him at the right time? This will be a good indication of Green's current ability.
"I was asked a lot about retirement," Green admitted after Mundine. "The last thing I said before I left the ring that night was I'll be back. I've only lost twice genuinely in my career. I was disqualified against Markus Beyer in our first fight and in our rematch I lost on points. Then Anthony Mundine beat me fair and square but that loss didn't warrant my retirement."
A loss to DeLisle certainly would. You get what you see with the strong-looking chippie, a rugged, aggressive battler, lacking a big punch and any subtlety to his work. DeLisle needs to get close to do his thing and ploughed straight into Woods in May using no upper body or head movement. It led to disaster then and could lead to disaster tonight. Even a faded Green has the punch to turn things his way. And he spent much of his early career at light-heavy. He won't be lacking in snap up there.
Ultimately it boils down to levels. Green has extended some of the the best while DeLisle has struggled every time he's stepped up. As well as losing to Green, and twice to Woods, DeLisle was outscored by classy Mexican-American Julio Cesar Gonzalez in a 12-rounder in California last year. He's tough enough to give Danny another argument, but on home turf in Perth, the quicker, heavier-handed, body-punching Green has to be favoured to repeat his win.
"The Green Machine" moves up to light-heavyweight to meet a fellow Aussie twice hammered by Sheffield's Clinton Woods.
Four months ago, Green suffered a unanimous points defeat to Mundine in front of a Sydney crowd of 30,000. It was a bitter pill for the ex-WBC interim champion, who had stopped 19 of his 21 victims going in but rarely troubled better-boxing Mundine and picked up a broken nose for his pains. He nodded graciously at his arch-rival at the final bell. Regrettably, it was a defeat that triggered ugly scenes in towns and cities across Australia.
One man died.
So Danny is back quickly in an attempt to put it all behind him. He already holds a win over the tough but raw DeLisle, kayoing him in five rounds for the vacant OPBF super-middleweight title in Penrith in June 2003 - but it was a war until Green finally overwhelmed his man, and DeLisle, nicknamed "The Nailer", holds an amateur win over him.
DeLisle is looking to shrug off a one-sided defeat himself. The Sydney man was given a boxing lesson by Woods in a challenge for the IBF light-heavyweight title in Sheffield in May, before he was taken out with a cracking right uppercut in the sixth. Delisle had lasted into the 12th with Woods two years earlier in an IBF title eliminator, also in Sheffield, and put the local star down in the first.
The latter is more an indication of Woods' improvement than any deterioration in DeLisle, who was already 28 when he turned pro after failing to make the 2000 Sydney Olympics (Green made the Games) and is still a reasonably fresh 34-year-old. Green, however, has a worn feel about him at 33. After kayoing DeLisle in 2003, he put in two huge efforts busting up and twice flooring Markus Beyer in a challenge for the WBC super-middleweight title in Germany (he was disqualified in the fifth for sticking the crust in) and flattening Canadian star Eric Lucas in six equally bruising rounds in front of 10,000 in Canada for the interim title (while Beyer recovered from his cuts).
But then came signs of deterioration. He suffered exhaustion outscoring New Zealand's Sean Sullivan in 2004 in Perth over 10 rounds, was floored by Argentina's Omar Gonzalez - the same Gonzalez who lost in 110 pathetic seconds to Brian Magee - before winning on cuts in the fifth, outsmarted by Beyer in their WBC title rematch in Germany, a fight many fancied Green to win, and punished by Mundine last time out.
Has DeLisle caught him at the right time? This will be a good indication of Green's current ability.
"I was asked a lot about retirement," Green admitted after Mundine. "The last thing I said before I left the ring that night was I'll be back. I've only lost twice genuinely in my career. I was disqualified against Markus Beyer in our first fight and in our rematch I lost on points. Then Anthony Mundine beat me fair and square but that loss didn't warrant my retirement."
A loss to DeLisle certainly would. You get what you see with the strong-looking chippie, a rugged, aggressive battler, lacking a big punch and any subtlety to his work. DeLisle needs to get close to do his thing and ploughed straight into Woods in May using no upper body or head movement. It led to disaster then and could lead to disaster tonight. Even a faded Green has the punch to turn things his way. And he spent much of his early career at light-heavy. He won't be lacking in snap up there.
Ultimately it boils down to levels. Green has extended some of the the best while DeLisle has struggled every time he's stepped up. As well as losing to Green, and twice to Woods, DeLisle was outscored by classy Mexican-American Julio Cesar Gonzalez in a 12-rounder in California last year. He's tough enough to give Danny another argument, but on home turf in Perth, the quicker, heavier-handed, body-punching Green has to be favoured to repeat his win.
I wrote a preview for a fight that had already taken place! "You call that a knife, this is a knife."