God is great, all grace is with Allah-the wise words of a humble man

[Jamilah]

 

Man vs Machine

 

Wednesday night’s boxing match between Anthony Mundine and Danny Green was a much anticipated challenge, the rivalry and the war of words brewing away between the two men for years. On the outset Mundine may appear to be the underdog with both his indigenous Australian background and Islamic identity. But his confidence and self-determination dispels such a notion.Critics consider Mundine an immodest man, but when given the opportunity subsequent to his spectacular victory Mundine praised Allah for his blessings and despite his dominance in the ring throughout the match he deemed Green a worthy opponent. The same man who justified the attacks made against Mundine who after winning a previous match in Perth was booed as he exited the building and had objects thrown at him. Green accounted for this violence by asserting that “us folks from the west dislike arroganceâ€.

 

 

I am so happy that Mundine won he and other Aboriginal Australians apart of the sporting elite are role models to the Aboriginal community who are overrepresented in the jails and criminal activity in general. He is also a role model for young Muslims as he modesty attributed his victory to the grace of ALLAH. I love my brother in Islam and I hope the best for him in future endeavours in this world and the hereafter.

 

By the way Nomads did I mention how happy I am........

[N.O.R.F]

Glad he won, heres an article.

 

Having spearheaded a boxing resurgence in his native Australia, former rugby league mega-star turned professional boxer Anthony 'The Man' Mundine was written off as a loudmouthed sideshow act in the wake of his knockout defeat by Sven Ottke in December 2001. However, his September 2002 mauling of respected brawler Antwun Echols not only netted him the WBA super middleweight belt, but also proved he's very much for real.

 

'It's starting to sink in now just what I've achieved; going from being the best in rugby league to world champion boxer in just three years,' the 28-year-old said over the phone from his Sydney home. 'Hardly anyone thought I could beat Echols but I was very confident even though almost everyone had me getting knocked out in three. Echols, for sure, believed he would just turn up and win.

 

'Echols was looking for one shot to knock me out but I could see [concern] on his face when I didn't crumble under his early pressure. I was a move ahead all the way through. I'm not just a fighter who likes to bang away in a fight. I'm smart; I was thinking my way through every single second.' Mundine's empathic points win was all the more impressive following post-fight revelations that he had fought the dangerous puncher while not only suffering with the after effects of a serious virus but also a broken rib. 'And I don't mean cracked, it was broken,' Mundine said. 'But I'd already postponed the fight once due to illness and if I did it again it could have been tricky to get a title fight for the next year or more so I boxed even though I was nowhere near 100%. 'And in a weird way I think the rib and all that actually helped me.

 

My concentration was razor sharp, better than ever before. I knew I couldn't let him get anything near my rib and I knew I had to make every shot score. Echols was supposed to destroy me, but I made him look ordinary. I dominated him.' Only Australian writer and pundit Paul Upham tipped 'The Man' to best Echols beforehand and the way in which Mundine won - punishing the former two-time middleweight title challenger in the later rounds - astounded experts in the northern hemisphere. How could Mundine, knocked out by light-punching Ottke in Germany, have possibility withstood the hammer blows of Echols? 'Yeah, because of the Ottke loss the assumption was Echols, who's a much, much more powerful puncher than Ottke, would smash me to bits,' Mundine admitted. 'But I knew the stoppage in Germany was due to a great punch to the temple combined with inexperience [it was only the 11th pro fight for Mundine] and exhaustion.

 

I'd never fought at that sort of level before, remember, and I was fighting on instinct from round seven onwards. I ran out of gas, left my temple where he could get full power into a shot and I lost.' Yet rather than accepting any of the numerous six-figure tenders to return to rugby (both League and Union teams made offer) Mundine rededicated himself to boxing. Possessing almost frightening self-belief - he once held talks with Don King to challenge Byron Mitchell for the WBA belt in only his sixth fight - Mundine remained convinced he'd achieve the world title that forever eluded his father, former Commonwealth champion Tony, who now trains Mundine Jr. He clawed his way back up the rankings and when Ottke was declared WBA super champion and the body's 'world title' thus became vacant, Mundine was matched with dangerman Echols.

 

Hammering the man who pushed Bernard Hopkins hard and had stopped Charles Brewer was not only professional redemption, it was also a catharsis for Mundine in terms of his relationship with the Australian public. Truculent and opinionated almost from birth (his father insists he's no idea where Anthony gets it from) Mundine was cast by the media as the ultimate bad guy long before he decided to abandon his position as Australia's highest-paid rugby league star to follow his father into boxing.

 

However, the 12,000 crowd which rabidly cheered their man on at the Sydney Entertainment Centre was the final proof that Mundine had achieved iconic status with his public. 'The press always labelled me as bad boy and villain because I am so dangerous,' Mundine explained. 'I treat people with respect but also I always speak out against injustice - especially injustice against my Aborigine people, who are second class citizens in Australia. The racism in Australia is dreadful but no one speaks out; I do.

 

I wasn't picked for my country [at rugby] because I am an Aborigine who refuses to be silent. 'And for the people who run parts of the media I'm terrifying because I'll actually say what so many others are silently thinking. And my voice just keeps getting louder as I continue to be successful and they just can't stand that. They want to tear me down; but the public make up their own minds no matter what is written about me.' Speaking with Mundine, I never once got the impression of a crusader using his public standing as a platform to sermonise. Instead, I think, this intelligent, cocky but likeable man is merely someone who can't help but speak his mind whenever a camera or dictaphone is pointed at him. This penchant for the outspoken, though, landed him in considerable bother just before he flew to Germany for the Ottke fight.

 

During a live interview with Channel 9 Mundine, who converted to Islam in 1998, was asked to comment on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. His observations, as far as they were allowed to go (the TV station claimed there was a 'technical fault'), were somewhat ambiguous but overnight Mundine became a pariah and everyone from sports journalists to the leader of the Labour Party leapt to denigrate the boxer. Manager and long-time friend Khoder Nasser recalls: 'He got roasted over here. Hammered. The main Sydney paper basically called him a terrorist; they crucified him for voicing his opinion when he was asked to voice it. It was crazy.

 

But then when the media vilified Anthony for speaking out against a rugby player who'd called him 'a black cunt' you come to expect them to use anything as ammunition against him.' But the reverberations of the Channel 9 comments went far beyond Australia. The U.S.- based IBF considered dropping him from their ratings before opting to 'warn him' not to voice similar opinions again; yet the WBC felt it incumbent upon them to 'indefinitely suspend' the Aussie from their ratings. Speaking to this magazine in October, WBC President Jose Sulaiman rationalised that decision by citing ArticleV.2 of the Mexico-based organisation's constitution.

 

'No-one in boxing should use the sport as a platform for politics,' Sulaiman said. 'What that man said offended many, many people and brought the sport of boxing into disrepute.' Kinda like Mike Tyson did when he was convicted of rape in 1992? The same Mike Tyson the WBC installed as No.1 heavyweight challenger upon his release from prison in 1995? 'That is totally different,' boxing's moral guardian countered. 'Mike Tyson didn't commit that crime.' Oh. To this day, Mundine insists his interrupted comments were contorted by his adversaries in the press. 'What I said was raw but it was what was in my heart,' he argued. 'Taking one innocent life, to me, is like taking all of humanity and I was horrified [at what happened] like everyone else.

 

But if you look at the American foreign policy in so many parts of the world - Iraq, Afghanistan are just two - they've helped create this whole problem and that's what I meant when I said they'd brought it on themselves. There are other ways through this that don't involve dropping bombs. 'I knew I'd get bombarded but I had to take this stance and if you look at what's happened since then, millions of people have protested against these wars not only in Australia but also in American and Britain, too. I highlighted an issue when no-one else dared speak out against what our governments were planning.' But a subsequent TV appearance, where Mundine apologised for any pain his comments may have caused while reiterating his condemnation of war, didn't abate the press assault. Nasser said sections of the Sydney media declared all-out war on his fighter and positively delighted in his defeat by Ottke. 'The photo of Anthony laying on the canvas was used for three days straight in some newspapers,' said Nasser. 'In fact, some papers used that shot for the Echols fight - they continually use it and that was a fight from two years ago.

 

'If you believe what you read you'd think the public hate Anthony Mundine, but the reception he gets in the arenas and on the street is nothing like that. The papers can write what they want to write for the reasons they want to write them, but they can't tell the public what to think. Not about politics and not about public figures. Most people just aren't that ****** .' Mundine added: 'I won the world title not just for myself, my dad and the people who supported me, but also for Australia.

 

And I'm going to bring back more titles to Australia.' Next up is a rather facile looking voluntary defence against Yoshinori Nishizawa, a 37-year-old with a 24-13-5 (12 KOs) record. The Japanese veteran has only been stopped once, in a round by one Takehito Saijo back in 1992, but it would be astonishing if he lasted beyond eight rounds against an ever-improving puncher like Mundine. 'This was a fight we could put together very quickly,' Nasser explained. 'Anthony has told the rest of us in the team that he wants four fights a year as champion - to wipe the division out - and this was a fight we could get together for January.' Team Mundine expects European champ Mads Larsen, who many believe beat Ottke in September 2002, to be made WBA No.1 contender shortly and are planning to stage that fight in the spring. 'We just want to get Anthony's first defence out of the way,' the champion's manager said. 'Anthony sets himself challenges and he's always in a rush.

 

' While the 12 stone (168lbs) division has gone off the boil somewhat since the mid-1990s, Team Mundine believe there are still some good fights out there for them. 'I'm setting my goals very high,' Mundine said. 'My top priority right now, though, is the rematch with Ottke [who was to face Britain's Robin Reid as this issue went to press]. Every fighter wants to avenge a defeat, especially a defeat which should never have been allowed to happen, and I am no different. I know I'd beat him easily this time around.' Another big name Mundine wants is long reigning WBO champion Joe Calzaghe. 'A fight with Calzaghe is defiantly something I want to happen,' the WBA kingpin said. 'He's someone I have to beat in order to prove myself the best in the world and move up the pound-for-pound rankings.' Mundine has just returned from a seminar with highly respected American trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. 'I've been over a few times to train with Mayweather,' he said.

 

'Getting that American training experience is important, for sure. My dad is very open to me working with other coaches. My dad believes that while he knows a lot from his era, things modern fighters have never even heard of, it is useful to both of us for me to get other expert input elsewhere. 'My initial goal was always to win a world title - always a world title, and as soon as possible - but now I want to go on and unify titles and earn myself pound-for-pound recognition. 'I want to unify the division and then move up to win titles at different weights. I really feel my full potential hasn't even been realised by even 50%. There's so much more to come from me and I can improve in so many areas to become, in time and with hard work, one of the most complete fighters in the world.'

 

Boxing Monthly

[sheherazade]

Interesting.

[winnie]

which is which? who is what? how can i tell?

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by Jamilah:

On the outset Mundine may appear to be the underdog with both his indigenous Australian background and Islamic identity. But his confidence and self-determination dispels such a notion.Critics consider Mundine an immodest man, but when given the opportunity subsequent to his spectacular victory Mundine praised Allah for his blessings and despite his dominance in the ring throughout the match he deemed Green a worthy opponent.

Now - why can't he add modesty to his praise for Allah? BTW - Aboriginal? - I see 2 whites - maybe in aboriginal in name only!

[Jamilah]

^^By praising Allah for his triumph shows he is modest. He is Aboriginal and very vocal about the fact not just in name.

 

Originally posted by illegal some-alien:

which is which? who is what? how can i tell?

On your left is Mundine and on your right Green.

 

P.S

Thanks for the article Northerner.

[xiinfaniin]

It’s good to see that a Muslim fighter wins—even in a boxing ring. Lets pray Muslims also win in the larger struggle.

[Kashafa]

Line'em up. Shut'em down. Takbeeeeeeeer. Been a lil while since we've seen a vocal outspoken Muslim public figure. Very refreshing to see one who actually uses "Allah" instead of "God".

 

All hail Anthony ibnu Tony Al-Mundine

[xiinfaniin]

LOL@Anthony ibnu Tony Al-Mundine!

 

It’s an unambiguous branding. Not a bad idea to make the first move, yaa Kashafka!

[Rahima]

Now - why can't he add modesty to his praise for Allah? BTW - Aboriginal? - I see 2 whites - maybe in aboriginal in name only!

No need to be a hater.

 

Aborigines get whiter than Mundine .

 

That said, I was elated at the win . Sure he’s cocky and at times puts his foot in it- but he sure did stick it to them all (racists and Islam-haters).

[nemo]

Alxamdhuallah to see a Muslim man to win. I actually thought that he was going to lose because the other guy green is much taller and punishes harder. It was his hard hit verses man's pace. I went to school with a smile on my face that day. Plus Barcelona won Arsenal.