By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (31-3, 23 KOs) is set to defend his title tonight against Sam Soliman (35-10, 13 KOs) in the third and likely final bout at the Vodafone Arena, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Mundine, 33, will be giving up his belt in fighting Soliman, has chosen to not to defend his title against his number # 1 challenger Mikkel Kessler, who previously beat Mundine in June 2005 by a 12-round unanimous decision. Rather than take the risky fight against Kessler, a fight that Mundine would very likely lose, he has opted to take on Soliman, a fellow Australian, in a fight that would give Mundine a much bigger payday than he would get by facing his number one challenger Kessler.
This is, in part, because of the Australian rivalry that he has with Soliman, which dates back to their first fight in 2002, which Mundine won by a narrow, albeit, controversial split decision. Their second fight, fought in March 2007, was no less interesting with both fighters exchanging constantly from the first round until the bitter end when Mundine stopped Soliman in the 9th round. The fight was hugely exciting, despite Soliman getting dropped three times, as he continued firing back at Mundine and gave him some problems along the way, particularly in the 7th round when he connected with some huge hooks and uppercuts to the head of Mundine. In the end, however, Mundine had too much power for the smaller Soliman, chopping him down with a series of big right hands in the 9th round of their bout fought in Sydney, Australia.
Since that time, Mundine has had three lackluster title defenses against mostly marginal opponents. In doing so, he’s faced a fair amount of criticism for not facing his number one challenger, which for some reason Mundine seem to postpone facing fight after fight.
Following his bout with Soliman tomorrow night, Mundine plans on moving down to the middleweight division, where he hopes to line up a fight with either Winky Wright, Kelly Pavlik or Jermain Taylor. Of the three, possibly Wright might be a fight that Mundine could get, but it remains unlikely that Pavlik or Taylor would meet up with him. Mundine also would like a bout with Joe Calzaghe, but that seems more of a pipe dream on Mundines’ part, something that won’t ever happen.
However, first Mundine has to get by Soliman before any of this occurs, and judging by the ways he’s looked in his last three bouts, somewhat slow and robotic, nothing is guaranteed at this stage in the game for the 33 year-old Mundine. Soliman, 34, has lost two out of his last four fights, but he still remains crafty, hardworking and elusive. If Mundine doesn’t bring his ‘A’ game in with him tomorrow night, he may find all his dreams of future bouts essentially dimmed for him. Mundine’s right hand is his best hope in his bout with Soliman, as it was the major factor in both of their previous bouts, enabling him to pull away from the elusive Soliman.