ANTHONY MUNDINE vs DANNY GREEN

The all-Aussie showdown between Anthony “The Man" Mundine and Danny “Green Machine" Green has it all, from bad blood between the fighters to a contrast of styles and personalities.

Mundine, 30, is the boxer and mover, fast and athletic; Green, 33, brings toughness, punching power and pressure.

Outside the ring Mundine is outspoken and gives the impression of arrogance while Green, it seems to me, is more of the Aussie “good bloke" type.

The fight, a 12-round super middle eliminator, has been long awaited in Australia and a 40,000 crowd is expected.

Green says that Mundine disrespected him and called him a “bum" in an Australian TV interview in 2001. He says he has wanted to meet Mundine ever since; the moment is at hand.

Mundine has been trained for the fight by Roy Jones Sr., who told the Sydney Morning Herald that he sees 30 per cent improvement in the boxer from when he last worked with him, which was when the Australian lost to Mikkel Kessler in a title challenge.

The durable and seasoned middleweight Sam Soliman knows what it is like to be in the ring with both men. He was Green’s chief sparmate for this fight and lost an unpopular decision to Mundine five years ago. Not surprisingly, he is picking Green to win. “Mundine will be chopped down inside the distance," Soliman told Australian writer Ray Wheatley.

Green, from Perth in Western Australia, seems without doubt to be the bigger puncher: he has stopped 19 opponents in his record of 21 wins, two losses.

Mundine, from Sydney, is a sharp hitter, though — he has stopped 20 opponents in his record of 25 wins, three losses — and he has the superior hand speed.

There seems no doubt that Green will be taking the fight to Mundine from the start. Mundine has said he will not be running, but I do not think for a moment that he will stay right in front of Green. He will surely seek to use his advantage in swiftness, hitting and pulling away, yes, but not dancing all around the ring.

The two have comparable professional experience but Mundine, a former rugby league star in Australia, had only a couple of amateur bouts whereas Green boxed in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

Green, then, is actually the more experienced fighter — but Mundine is a great natural athlete. Mundine has a great boxing bloodline, too: his father, Tony, was a world-class middleweight and a Commonwealth champion who taught his son how to box and has trained him all through his career although Roy Jones Sr. was brought in for fine-tuning purposes.

I was concerned that there had apparently been a rift between father and son in the lead-up to the fight but a source close to the situation tells me that Mundine Sr. is expected to be in his son’s corner on fight night, along with Jones.

Mundine will need to have a settled mind and be fully focused because one slip could be costly against a puncher such as Green.

It seems that Mundine knows he will need to be nothing less than 100 per cent mentally and physically and he trained in a remote Aboriginal community, drawing psychic strength from his ancestral roots.

“If I am physically and mentally ready, he can’t touch me," Mundine told the Sydney Morning Herald. Green, in a statement from his training camp, said: “I’m going to test Mundine’s spirit, test his heart and I think that the man who wants to win more on the night is going to be the victor. That’s how I feel and I’m very confident of being the man on the night."

I think that what Green is saying is that when it comes right down to it he is going to outgame Mundine.

Even if Green cannot land a big punch he could win on points by pushing Mundine into a defensive type of fight, similar to what happened when Mundine was outworked by the Puerto Rican Manny Siaca two years ago, although the Australian was perhaps unwise to go through with that fight after suffering an ankle injury in training.

I thought that Mundine might seriously lack durability after he was knocked out in the 10th round by Sven Ottke in Germany in December 2001. When I watched the tape, though, I noticed that Mundine got dropped by a right hand that caught him high up on the temple, not on the chin.

Certainly Mundine has not shown a chin problem in his subsequent fights. He clearly outpointed — in fact almost outclassed — the heavy handed Antwun Echols, and although Mundine was well outpointed last June by the unbeaten Dane Kessler it was an honourable defeat, with the Australian standing up to some big barrages and fighting back quite well at times.

If Green can hit him cleanly with a big right hand, though, it could produce calamity for Mundine, because he is facing perhaps the hardest hitter in the 168-pound division.

Green did what I did not think anyone could do when he dented the rocklike chin of Eric Lucas in six rounds on the French-Canadian’s home turf in Montreal.

Although Green lost twice to Markus Beyer in title bouts in Germany the first fight was highly controversial, with the Aussie disqualified for butting, while he came close when losing by majority decision in the rematch (one point on one scorecard from being a draw).

Green dropped Beyer twice in the first two rounds of their initial meeting and he had him down in the last round of their return fight, showing that he can hurt a top-class opponent early or late.

However, there does seem to be a tendency with Green to concentrate so much on landing big punches that lets rounds slip away as his opponent picks him off — at least, that was what happened against Beyer. The German could not match Green for power or physical strength but he had some excellent rounds in which he would either get his punches off first out of his southpaw style or lay back, get Green to lunge a bit and then counter him smartly.

If Mundine can bother and bewilder Green with the speed of his punches, get him frustrated by making him miss and punish him with counters, then he can enjoy a very good night indeed.

Green is going to be dangerous at all times, though — but especially in the early rounds. If he can catch Mundine and drop him early — and Mundine was floored by Manny Siaca in the second round — it will give Green an enormous psychological advantage.

If Mundine does get hurt early I think he will find it hard to get back into the fight against his strong-willed rival.

For Mundine to win, he has to be able to dictate, to not get nailed, and to let his athleticism come to the fore in a free-flowing type of way.

If Green rocks him early — or worse yet, drops him early — Mundine’s character will be severely tested. If Mundine finds himself in the sort of fight where he is constantly worrying about getting hit by a big blow, and boxes warily, then Green will most likely seize — and hold — the initiative.

This, then, is a fight that could go either way, and it is not surprising that it has captured the Australian public’s imagination.

A strong case can be made for either man, but I think that Mundine’s speed — both movement and punch-rapidity — gives him the edge.

There are likely to be some anxious moments against a gritty and powerful rival but I believe that Mundine will be able to ride out the rough passages and pile up enough points to win a 12-round decision.