By Allan Fox: 37-year-old former WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (43-4, 25 KO’s) is stubbornly convinced that he can get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. before he retires at some point in the future. It would seem that Mundine’s chances are pretty much zero, because he’s spent his entire career fighting in Australia against largely unknown fighters to the average American, and that has kept him in the dark for U.S boxing fans.
Mundine told Brisbanetimes.com.au “I am looking at a five-fight deal and this one the first one. Obviously I am going to have to go through [Miguel] Cotto or an [Saul] Alvarez or someone of note to really get their attention, but I want to fight Floyd Mayweather and I truly believe I can shock the world.”
The first fight that Mundine is talking about is his bout against journeyman Bronco McKart (54-9-1, 32 KO’s) on July 14th at the Palms Casino and Resort, Pearl Theater, Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s kind of a really small first step if Mundine is serious about wanting to fight Mayweather. Instead of facing McKart, Mundine should be taking a larger step and fighting someone like Vanes Martirosyan, Sakio Bika, Andre Dirrell, Kelly Pavlik, George Groves, James DeGale or Renan St. Juste. It isn’t as if Mundine is a prospect. He’s been around for years. The problem is he’s wasted too many years fighting in Australia against the likes of Garth Wood, Ryan Water, Crazy Kim and Sam Soliman. There’s just not enough substance on Mundine’s resume and he’s not been exposed to American audiences and I don’t see that changing.
Mundine’s chances of getting a fight against Alvarez and Cotto are probably zero as well. Cotto is no longer a belt holder at 154, so he’s not going to volunteer to fight Mundine, and Mundine isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the WBC. This means that Alvarez will never have to bother fighting him, because he’s not even ranked. If Mundine got ranked suddenly now at the top 15 spot, it would likely take two or three years before he became the mandatory challenger for Alvarez. By then Mundine will 40, and I think his skills will be gone to the point where he struggles to beat anyone.
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