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Anthony Mundine

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Anthony "The Man" Mundine (born 21 May 1975) is a boxer and former Australian rugby league player. Mundine was trained by his father, Tony Mundine, who was a middleweight contender during the 1970s.

Anthony Mundine

Mundine has had a stormy relationship with the popular media.[1] His conversion to Islam in 1999, self-promotion and outspoken opinions have created a love-hate relationship with the Australian public.[2] He was named the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Person of the Year in 2000.

Rugby league

Mundine played junior rugby league for Hurstville United before signing with the St. George Dragons in 1993. He played in the 1993 Grand Final, which the Dragons lost to his future team, the Brisbane Broncos. In 1996 he played in another losing Grand Final, this time against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. At the end of that season he announced that he was signing with the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League competition.

In 1997 he played 18 games for the Broncos, scoring 3 tries.[3] He also played in his first winning Grand Final team, beating the Cronulla Sharks. In 1998 he returned to the Dragons, and remained there until his retirement from rugby league at the end of the 2000 season.

Mundine was selected to play for New South Wales in 1999 in each of the three matches in the State of Origin series. He was disappointed that further representative honours did not follow, and believed that his representative career did not reflect his abilities and achievements at club level. He raised the issue of racism as a possible explanation for this. He played in his last Grand Final in 1999, losing to the Melbourne Storm.

At the end of the 2000 season, he rejected a record rugby league offer of $600,000 in order to pursue a career in boxing. In early 2005, he announced he was to make a return to rugby league, but has yet to do so.[4]

Playing statistics

Team Years Matches Tries/Goals/Field Goals
St. George Dragons 1993-1996, 1998 86 33t-3g-2fg [5]
Brisbane Broncos 1997 18 3t [6]
St. George-Illawarra Dragons 1999, 2000 33 19t
New South Wales 1999 3

.

Boxing career

Mundine fought his first professional boxing match in 2000, at the age of 25. On 12-01-2001 he fought for his first world title against long reigning IBF supermiddleweight champion Sven Ottke, who stopped him in 10th round. This mode of victory was a surprise, since Ottke had only won by knockout 4 times in his previous 24 fights (however his lifetime record ended at 34-0 with 6KOs). He went on to claim the vacant WBA Super Middleweight title with a unanimous points decision over Antwun Echols on the September 3, 2003, in front of his home crowd at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. He successfully defended his title once, before losing it to Manny Siaca in a split decision.

Mundine failed in his attempt to re-gain the WBA super middleweight title after losing by decision to Mikkel Kessler on August 6, 2005 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Despite the loss, many people believe that his bout against Kessler was the best he had fought. Mundine's list of past fights and opponents has also been a subject of criticism, citing that he and his managers tend to choose sub-par and/or older fighters to take into the ring, who have only very modest fight records and little or no popularity.

Mundine's biggest Australian rival is the Perth-based Danny Green. The two boxers finally, after much anticipation, fought on May 17, 2006, at Aussie Stadium, Sydney. The bout was one of the most anticipated in Australian boxing history, and was thought to even eclipse the attendance record of 37,000 when Jeff Fenech fought Azumah Nelson in their rematch in 1992. Green was the favourite heading into the bout but Mundine won after the full 12 rounds in a unanimous decision by the three judges from Australia, Korea and Thailand. An 'automatic rematch' clause applies to the fight, so Mundine may choose the location of the rematch.

Comments regarding the September 11 attacks

In 2001, Mundine commented on the September 11, 2001 attacks. He criticised the American Government, claiming that its foreign policies had helped to foster an environment in which terrorism could flourish. In one interview when asked about what he thought about Australian troops joining Americans in Afghanistan he stated

"I really feel that it's not our problem. They call it an act of terrorism but if you understand the religion and our way of life it's not about terrorism, it's about fighting for God's laws and America's brought it upon themselves (for) what they've done in history and so on."

Mundine's stance attracted some vocal critics at the time.

Trivia

  • Featured on beatboxer Joel Turner's single "Knock U Out" which peaked in the top 20 of the Australian ARIAnet singles chart in 2005.
  • Appeared as himself in the music video, Like a Dog by the Australian rock group Powderfinger
  • His nickname "The Man" has been parodied in some quarters by referring to him as "The Mouth" in reference to his outspoken comments.

Sources

Preceded by Super Middleweight boxing champion (WBA)
2003–2005 		Succeeded by
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