By Nate Anderson: Former two-time World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (34-3, 23 KOs) easily defeated Rafael Sosa Pintos (31-3, 12 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision on Tuesday night at the E.G. Whitlam Recreation Center, Liverpool, in New South Wales, Australia. The final judges’ scores were 100-91, 99-91 and 100-88.
Mundine, 33, who gave up his WBA super middleweight title after facing Sam Soliman in May, is hoping to get a shot at the currently vacant World Boxing Council title. Mundine, ranked #7 in the WBC, had little trouble with the smaller, less powerful Pinto, controlling every round of the fight except for the 10th and final round. Mundine boxed beautifully in rounds one though five, showing a constant jab, short left hooks and a chopping right hand against the slower Pinto.
At times, Mundine looked like a larger version of Roy Jones Jr., moving well around the ring, and hitting Pinto with fast flurries before escaping away to the outside. Pinto hardly was able to land a shot during the first five rounds, as he came up empty virtually every time that he would attempt to land a shot against Mundine.
Each time Pinto would come forward, Mundine would lean back and dodge Pinto’s incoming shots. In the 3rd round, Pinto started to attack much harder, coming forward quickly and throwing wide hooks but Mundine would back away, making Pinto’s punches come up short most of the time.
In the meantime, Mundine kept his jab in Pinto’s face, and would add in an occasional short left hook and right hand combination to the head and body. In the 6th round, Pinto finally succeeded in landing several good right hands. However, that was about the full extent of it, for Mundine continued landing right hands and jabs with ease and making Pinto look badly outclassed.
In rounds seven through nine, Mundine moved around the ring with ease, often keeping both hands to his sides and changing directions on a dime. In these rounds, Mundine looked like he was trying on Joe Calzaghe’s style of fighting and doing pretty good imitation at that. By the end of the 9th round, Pinto’s right eye was red and swelling underneath and he looked frustrated.
In the 10th round, Mundine backed off, taking it easy and spending portions of the round leaning against the ropes and covering up while Pinto hammered away at him. Though Pinto clearly won the round due to his much better work, Mundine made it close with his accurate counter punching.