By Tony Nobbs – There were a couple of surprises on the under card – but not in the main as Anthony Mundine (38-3, 23 ko’s) defeated fellow Sydney fighter Rob Medley (27-3, 17 ko’s) by unanimous decision at the Entertainment Center in the NSW capital last night.
In a fast paced and entertaining twelve round bout Mundine, 34, was too skilled. Medley, 27, had his moments, taking a few rounds through sheer volume of punches but over all lacked the power to get on top of Mundine who was more accurate. Mundine looked a little out of sorts at times, and is defenitely hampered by hip and groin problems but in the eigth round he gave the packed crowd some razzle dazzle with an Ali Shuffle, and was a class above at the end of the night. Scores were 117-112, 117-113, 117-115. ESB saw it 117-111..
Mundine will undergo groin surgery before he fights again. He looks to have been fighting with an injury for the past year. This year hopefully, he faces a top international. He is due to meet Garth Wood, who won the Contender Australia final on the under card, later in the year.
Wood (7-1) upset WBO # 8 super middle Kariz Kariuki (21-8-2) over seven rounds. Wood was all over Kariuki from the get go and the Kenyan born boxer was never allowed to get settled. On the odd occasion he did get his range, Kariuki only shut himself down by stepping up behind his jab. Wood fought an ugly fight and it worked. He landed several overhand rights. Kariuki finished the fresher of the two and could have pulled back the advantage over ten rounds. ESB carded 68-65 Wood. This was Garth’s second straight boilover, having defeated Victor Oganov in the semi’s. In round three, Wood was cut over the left eye, which initially opened in sparring prior to his opening contest in The Contender.
In a fight billed “The Contender Grudge Match”, Junior Talipeau (14-1-1) dropped Nader Hamden (42-7-1) with a right hand before a head clash opened a nasty cut over Hamden’s right eye. The doctor sopped it at 1.23 of the opening round.
West Sydney battler Scott Lewis (2-3) caused a shock by out lasting Rugby League star Carl Webb (0-1). The referee stopped it after the bell ending round three. Webb, who had an amateur win over Alex Leapai, started strongly but in the second began to slow and he was completely spent at the end. Webb was given a standing eight count in round three.
Peter Mitrevski (22-6-1) decisioned Thai Jakkirt Suwannalird (15-14-1) over six at midle, a scheduled super middleweight four rounder between Peter Kazzi (12-1-1) and Chok Sithkrupan (7-6-2) ended with a TD in round one and in the opening four rounder, Renold Quinlan (2-0) stopped Mick Portr (3-3) at middleweight.