Anthony ‘The Man’ Mundine has defended his World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight world title with a unanimous point’s decision victory over Argentine Pablo Daniel Zamora Nievas at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
Mundine entered the stadium being carried as a king on his throne complete with crown, and carried by team members dressed as Roman soldiers, along with support via the tunes of Body Head Bangerz.

Before the bout Nievas received fax messages of support from his country’s President Nestor Kirchner and football legend Diego Maradona, and seemed undaunted by the task ahead.



Mundine started the fight on the front foot looking to take control early, eliminating any doubt that Neivas could pose the same problems with his height, reach and strength that former Mundine conqueror Manny Siaca did. Nievas showed great courage, testing Mundine at times with his strong combination punching, but Mundine was always in control and displayed exceptional handspeed and selection of punches. Nievas took a standing eight count from referee Raъl Caнz Jr. in the fifth round, and finished the bout with both eyes swollen.

Mundine was awarded the decision on all three judges’ scorecards, with Pinij Prayadsab scoring it 119-107, Takeo Harada 119-108 and Byung-Ki Kim 120-108.

Mundine moves to 29-3, while Nievas dropped to 17-2-1, with ‘The Man’ appearing to have torn a right bicep muscle after having to be iced during the post fight interview.

Mundine is now likely to increase his calls for a unification bout against divisional kingpins Mikkel Kessler, who defeated Mundine in Sydney in 2005, and Welshman Joe Calzhage. However Mundine concedes it’s likely he will have to get some more defences on his resume before the big-name opponents come knocking on his manager’s door.

"Calzhage is in that position - he's number one in our division - because of his defences as a fighter. I just have to keep knocking people out,” Mundine said.

"The more quick defences - boom, boom, boom - I want to make statements, I want to make noise. If I can fit a a Calzhage in there, I'll go to instant stardom worldwide.

"I believe I'm ready now. Saying that, it would be great to get some defences and experience of world title fights under my belt. "

I really feel like I'm in a part of my career where I'm starting to get on the top of my game. It's hard because some of these guys, it's hard to get big fights.

"In the meantime I'll keep fighting whoever they put in front of me as far as the top 15 - you can't fight anybody out of the top 15 in the world.

"Whoever that is, I'm going to knock them out. I'm going to make statement after statement until one of these guys says, 'let's go'."

The two-time world champion Mundine is also reported to be in negotiations to stage his next world title defence in Malaysia, with September being mentioned as a possible date. A rematch with Australian arch-rival Danny Green is also on the horizon, possibly to be staged in Perth, Western Austr

De La Hoya-Mayweather: A Timely Fight for a Timeless Sport

03.05.07 - By Steve Skinner: A few months back I was emailed by a member of Eastside boxing named “Pitbull” or something similar. Apparently he’s an avid UFC fan, and was continuing on with Dana White’s(UFC’s President & CEO) strategy to “call out” boxing-to say that UFC is better, that they’re making more money by producing larger PPV figures, that boxing is a dying sport, and ultimately that its only a matter of time before the UFC takes over.

As a long time boxing fan (and longtime member of Eastside boxing), of course this is not the first time I’ve heard this or had some crazy ultimate fighting fan email me in response to one of my posts. I also have a long time friend of mine who happens to be both a boxing fan and a UFC fan-but in the past year he’s been employing the same Dana White-like tactics. Every time there’s a UFC Event, he mass emails all his friends (whether they watch the sport or not) to let them know of the upcoming UFC Event, the odds on the fights, his picks, etc. Although I find it quite annoying, I must take my hat off to the UFC fans for pushing their sport and trying to gain fan base. In my recent conversations with my UFC buddy, I’ve noticed that he really seems to want to downplay the upcoming De La Hoya-Mayweather fight. You see, at heart he’s really more of a UFC fan. As a former High School wrestler, I can certainly appreciate the UFC and the sport of ultimate fighting, but for me it will never be as good as boxing. For me it’s an entirely different sport that will never be on the same level as a sport like boxing for several reasons.

For starters, the sport of boxing has one thing that ultimate fighting will not have for many years-that is if it sticks around; History. The Marquis of Queensberry rules go back to 1865, and legalized boxing began in 1896 with the Horton Law. Now here we stand in 2007 with the biggest fight in the history of the sport about to take place. In between, there’ve been many great fights, many great fighters, many great trainers, many great fans, many great sponsors and networks, and many great promoters who have kept the sport alive. Ultimate fighting is long ways away from being able to produce a mega event that will produce the revenue of a single event such as De La Hoya-Mayweather. Believe me, this fight will be watched all around the world, and time will be standing still when it happens.

Secondly, boxing is a legitimate sport. Not only is boxing a recognized sport by the Olympic committee, but it’s also recognized by the general public and mainstream America. Ultimate fighting, on the other hand, has not only struggled for fan base but also to be recognized as a legitimate sport rather than human cock-fighting. Legitimacy is a three-part equation, however. Obviously without the fan base, no sport would survive. Ultimate fighting has already proved that it has the fan base, but adequate sponsorship is still a part of the equation that they’re still missing out on. Although ultimate fighting has had some success on networks like Spike, Fox, and I’ve heard rumors that they will start being aired on HBO; there are still many other networks that don’t want a part of them that have been airing boxing for years. Even beyond that, there is the question of sponsorship. While companies like Budweiser, Tecate, Southwest Airlines, Dr Pepper, and many many other recognized companies are willing to sponsor the sport of boxing, ultimate fighting is sponsored by Xience and many other non-recognized companies. Honestly I don’t even know what Xience is or does, I think you’re supposed to drink it though!

Lastly, boxing seems to have a strange ability to stop time in its tracks when a mega-fight such as we’re about to watch goes off. It’s a very strange effect that is hard to put into words, but is more a feeling you have or a rare experience one goes through t

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