By James Slater – Australia’s Anthony “The Man” Mundine, the former two-time WBA 168-pound champion, stopped countryman Ryan Waters in the 10th-round yesterday in New South Wales, and now the 35-year-old is targeting the WBA title at 154-pounds.
Mundine improved to 40-3(24) with the TKO victory, and the never-stopped tough guy has won his last 17 bouts. Dropping down to light-middleweight for his last two outings, the Australian warrior wants to be known as one of the best in the sport pound-for-pound. And to do that, the man from Sydney is looking at a fight with the winner of the planned Dec.4th fight between WBA 154-pound king Miguel Cotto and challenger Julio Cesar Chavez Junior..
Mundine, who picked up a cut in the 4th-round of his win over Waters (courtesy of a head-butt), told The Sydney Morning Herald that it is the WBA belt he is “chasing.”
“My manager is going to see the WBA in Panama,” Mundine said. “And put the pressure on to see what we can come up with. I believe I have the talent and the ability to be one of the best pound-for-pounders in the world. Everyone that fights me, they aren’t fighting for the world title – they are fighting for the world galaxy championship, especially Australians. Their mindset is if they can beat me, they have made it.
“But that’s why I am “The Man,” because I keep rising to the challenge.
And there is no doubt about it, Mundine – who said he felt much stronger in yesterday’s fight in comparison to his only other fight at 154 – would be a very tough proposition for either Cotto or Chavez Junior. But will the winner of December 4th’s fight look the Australian’s way? Mundine says he may push for a fight with the WBA interim champ at 154, Nobuhiro Ishida, with a win making him next in line for a fight with the Cotto-Chavez Jnr winner.
In many ways an underrated fighter as well as being one who isn’t as well known outside of Australia as he should be, Mundine would perhaps be too big a risk with too little reward for the Cottos of the sport. As long as he keeps on winning, though, Mundine will have to be given a big fight soon.
On the subject of Cotto-Chavez Jnr, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com isn’t sure the fight will actually happen as planned. On his Twitter page, Rafael says Top Rank have informed him that Kermit Cintron is a possibility to take on Cotto if the fight with Chavez Jnr cannot be made (‘and I have doubts,’ Dan writes, with regards to Cotto Vs. Chavez).
So there seems to be a chance we could see Cotto get it on with “The Killer” on the first Saturday in December, not the son of a Mexican legend. Where would this leave Anthony Mundine? Does Cintron even deserve another shot at a world title?