'The man' or the mouth?

"I'm the gorilla, I'm the silverback" - Anthony Mundine

Possibly one of Australia's most controversial sportsman in recent times has been Anthony 'The Man' Mundine. 'The Man' has talked the talk for many years and despite his insistence that he also walks the walk, how good is Mundine really? Mundine has an impressive professional tally of 43 wins from 48 bouts, 127 first grade rugby league games and three state of origins. On the surface he is surely one of Australian sport's all-round modern greats, but beneath the scenes something is rotten. To find out more we must look at his record and the legacy he will leave behind him.

Mundine began his professional sporting career at 18 when he signed to play rugby league with the St. George Dragons and proved to be without a doubt a very talented footballer. Mundine played in two losing grand finals and represented New South Wales in all three games of the 1999 State of Origin series. He first rose to controversy when he claimed that his lack of further representative honors was based on his race. This is clearly an absurd statement for several reasons that I will demonstrate. Many talented Aboriginal and Pacific Islander players have regularly represented their states and nation frequently in the last two decades. Additionally, he was not the best player in  his position of choice, five-eighth, which was under constant competition from the likes of New South Wales greats Laurie Daley, Brad Fitler and for Australia, Darren Lockyer.

Half way through the 2000 NRL season, Mundine decided, inspired by Mohammad Ali, that he would become the greatest boxer ever. He started his professional boxing career promisingly, with five wins in a row, leading to him becoming the Australian Super Middleweight Champion in February 2001. It was only several months later that Mundine would again rise to the front pages with a single comment that polarised the nation. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks Mundine publicly stated for whatever reason he felt necessary, that; "They call it an act or terrorism, but if you understand religion and our way of life, it's not about terrorism. It's about fighting for God's law and America's brought is upon themselves". With this in mind, I make my first point about him basically being a muppet. No matter what your religion - Christian, Islam, Hindu or Judaism, no faith preaches violence - we all know this. However the newly converted Mundine in all his wisdom delivers this ridiculous piece of garbage within a moment of the deaths of 3000 innocent civilians. Mundine would later state his comment was taken out of context. I disagree, the context is clear. He believed they got what they deserved.

Mundine holds the record as the only man to have held three world titles in descending weight categories, or so he says. When a closer inspection is taken over Mundine's 'world' titles, it becomes blatantly obvious why he's been able to win so much. Mundine's first world title was actually the Pan Asian Boxing Association (PABA) super middleweight championship. This title is not regularly open to the boxing strongholds of the United States and much of South America, thus it is simply a regional division championship. The next title Mundine would proudly hold aloft was that of the IBF Pan Pacific super middleweight championship. Once more this is only a regional title and not a 'world' title. The WBA Pan African super middleweight championship was next on the list and I'm sure you can tell by the name, it is also just a regional title and there is nothing worldly about it. The WBA Fedelatin title was once more a regional title Mundine would claim in February 2003. Finally when Mundine was to win a non regional title, the WBA super middleweight championship later that year, oh no it's a secondary title, the real 'super' champion in the division was Sven Ottke.

Now it was time for Mundine to really prove himself, could he tackle the likes of a true world champion? The answer would prove to be no. Mundine was beaten through a unanimous points decision, by Mikkel Kessler, in June 2005. Mundine would go on to reclaim his secondary title in March 2007 when it was vacated. He would not challenge Kessler again for the true title though, for reasons he would not explain in any great depth. Ironically it may have been because he was way out of his own depth when in the ring with Kessler. In February 2007, 'The Man', won the vacated WBA international middleweight title, as per usual however, you will find that this is their second tier championship. It is clear how Mundine had managed to trash talk about his status as a champion so frequently, thanks to some ill-information to the public on what he'd actually won and the standard of such titles.

To Mundine's credit however, in 2009 he won his first ever World Title in a split decision victory of Daniel Geale. After eight long years of talk about being the best boxer in the world - "I'm the best you will ever see" - Mundine had finally achieved something special. Needless to say, Mundine relinquished the title not long after, unwilling to defend against the contenders. With all of this in mind I hope that you can see through the charade, the cliche's, the fancy footwork and catch phrases. Anthony Mundine, often criticized, much to his displeasure, for fighting bums, has certainly managed to do just that for the better part of a decade. Yet many among us are naive enough to believe he really is a fantastic athlete, one of the best Australia has ever had to offer. I however propose to you that Anthony 'The Man' Mundine is the most outrageously over rated athlete of our generation; a man with more words in his nickname than world titles around his waist and an individual so determined to be remembered that he will descend to any low in order to be noticed.