Well, after a pretty good year for Australian boxers in general, what is in store for Australia’s highest profile boxers in 2008? Let's take a look...     
          

MICHAEL KATSIDIS - (WBO Interim Lightweight Champion, Juan Diaz holds the legitimate WBO title)
In my opinion Kats has produced the goods better than any other Australian fighter on the international stage, winning two high profile bouts with enough action for both to be considered Fight of the Year material. Firstly he claimed the WBO Interim Lightweight Championship in the UK (a feat in itself to gain a victory in the UK over a local fighter) scoring a 5^th round TKO over Graham Earl in February and then he successfully defended this title in July with a 12 round unanimous decision -in a bloody battle that would have made Arturo Gatti proud- against a tough as nails Filipino Czar Amonsot.

What is in store for Kats in 2008? Well, Juan Diaz had originally agreed to make his WBO mandatory defence against Kats and the Baby Bull had actually signed the contract. All looked well for boxing fans to get to see one of the most potentially exciting bouts that could possibly be made, only to be screwed over by Don King who apparently has a clause in Diaz’s contract that will NOT allow him to fight for another promoter even in the case of a mandatory defence of any of his titles and a purse bid is won by a rival promoter. As a result, Juan Diaz appears likely to make an IBF mandatory defence against Nate Campbell (he’s earned his shot) who just happens to be another Don King promoted fighter.

It also appears that Michael Katsidis will be fighting faded veteran Joel Casamayor in late March. Based on their respective last bouts the smart money would be on Kats to win hands down and whilst I certainly hope this is the case, I still remember Casa’s brilliant display of counter punching in his first bout with the late Diego Corrales. If Casa can reproduce that kind of form it will represent a big challenge to Kats. If both Kats and Juan Diaz win their respective upcoming bouts as I believe they will, hopefully common sense will prevail and they will finally face each other by mid-2008, (as Diaz’s contact with King expires at the end of March 2008).  
 

DANNY GREEN - (WBA Light Heavyweight Champion)
Australia’s only current full fledged world champion has had a very interesting year stopping the over matched Paul Murdoch & Otis Griffin in under three rounds each. After defeating Griffin, Green actively sought out a bout with Antonio Tarver. Nevertheless, when Tarver refused to come to Australia to fight, Green agreed to fight in the USA and an agreement was seemingly reached. Green announced to the Australian public he would be facing Tarver, but Antonio Tarver and his connections became greedy and tried to screw Green out of the money initially agreed upon, and from my understanding, Green gave up a LOT of money just to get Tarver in the ring. Finally, Green and his people had enough of being treated poorly by Team Tarver and sought out a bout with WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Stipe Drews. Green took Drew's belt in one of the most bizarre lack of effort by a defending world champion I have ever seen. I am trying to put that anti-climax out of my mind, hoping that Green’s next bout will be as exciting as most of his previous bouts.

In Australia the press and PPV channels are desperately wanting Green to defend his title against Anthony Mundine with the bean counters dreaming of generating an even bigger revenue earning bout than their previous fight which generated approximately $10 million in revenue. However, I understand that Green has until April to make a mandatory defence against the highest ranked available contender, the WBA has deemed Hugo Garay of Argentina to be worthy of this honour.

One thing does puzzle me about the WBA, and that is its inconsistency. Within two weeks of winning the WBA title, Danny Green is informed he must make a mandatory defence as his first title defence. In contrast, Anthony Mundine wins the regular WBA Super Middleweight title in March 2007 and is allowed to make three title defences against opponents barely worthy of being ranked in its top 15 fighters (Jose Clavero shouldn’t even be rated in any sanctioning body’s top 100!). I foresee problems getting Anthony Mundine to agree to terms to fight Danny Green again as it appears that Green knows he has the power, holding a title Mundine has never held and it will be Mundine who will be the challenger in a rematch. We might see Danny Green making a couple of optional defences of his title before seeing Green-Mundine II. I personally would like to see Green face Clinton Woods in a WBA-IBF unification bout.
 

ANTHONY MUNDINE (WBA Super Middleweight Regular Champion, Joe Calzaghe is the legitimate WBA Super Middleweight Champ)
Once again it was a very eventful  year for Anthony Mundine. In March, he produces probably his career best performance against Sam Soliman to win the regular WBA Super Middleweight Championship. He then chose to defend his newly obtained title in what is now becoming an all too familiar trait of Team Mundine, against an unknown and seemingly undeserving Argentinean by the name of Pablo Nievas. What looked like sure slaughter on paper actually turned out to be a tougher than expected defence for Mundine with the bout going the distance and Mundine being hurt on a couple of occasions. Mundine then had eye surgery; his eye ultimately became infected through his own ignorance and stupidity and it looked like “The Man's” career might come to an end. As illustrated in a previous article on this website it appears that the damage to Mundine’s eye has been exaggerated just a tad (maybe quite a bit). Perhaps capitalizing on his unfortunate circumstances “The Man” chose once again to face an unknown Argentinean, Jose Clavero, before meeting stiffer competition. Clavero barely had basic boxing skills to be an amateur and Mundine stopped the hopelessly outclassed challenger in 4 rounds of what could be described barely as a sparring session. Mundine then showed the height of arrogance, indirectly suggesting a week after his disgraceful mismatch that Stipe Drews was paid to lose to Danny Green. As it turns out, Drews allegedly told a few people in Perth he was on the verge of signing to face none other than Anthony Mundine when Green’s management approached Drews with a better offer... could this be sour grapes.

What’s in store for Anthony Mundine in 2008? Firstly there will be another voluntary title defence against fellow Australian Nader Hamden in late February. This is certainly a step up in class from his previous two title defences as Hamden is strong, tough and determined, having been in the ring with world class fighters such as Sam Soliman, current IBF Middleweight Champ Arthur Abraham, Otis Grant & Mads Larsen (losing commendably to each). I expect Mundine to win this bout fairly easily with Hamden putting up a brave performance only to be stopped somewhere from the 6^th round onwards. Assuming Mundine beats Hamden, I’m sure he will pursue the big money rematch with Danny Green, perhaps the WBA may actually do something credible and force Mundine to make a mandatory defence against No.1 contender Dennis Ikin (or the highest rated available challenger) first! I really believe that if Anthony Mundine thinks he is the best in his division then he needs to stop telling everyone how good he is and start showing us by fighting the best opposition in the Super Middleweight class. I hope in 2008 he decides to face the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, Edison Miranda and others.

As much as Mundine may dream of fighting Joe Calzaghe, the Welshman  has bigger fish to fry! So I won’t give “The Man” a hard time for not facing the best Super Middleweight in the world. I do know that Anthony Mundine will more than likely take the easiest path to making the most money and that means he will pursue a rematch with Danny Green with vigour. This might mean that “The Man” may have to eat some humble pie, something he doesn’t like to do! I am sure Mundine does not like the fact that Danny Green holds a more legitimate version of the WBA world title. Green holds all the power in relation to a rematch. Green cannot possibly make the Super Middleweight limit anymore; if Mundine wishes to step up and challenge for Green’s title, he is going to have to do it on Green’s terms and that means Green’s people will probably want to promote the bout, they will want the rematch to be staged in Perth (Green’s hometown). I am sure that Green will be taking at least 50% of the purse (unlike last time) or maybe a bigger slice of the pie. Danny Green has correctly stated that Mundine is a two Super Middleweight Champ (Green knows all about holding an interim title as he was the WBC Interim Super Middleweight Champ for a year or so!) and it will be very difficult for “The Man’s” ego to allow someone else to be calling the shots in what will probably again be the biggest bout in Australian boxing history. “The Man" might just opt for a bout with high profile Sakio Bika instead, if he can’t get his own way.

 
VIC DARCHINYAN - (Former IBF Flyweight Champion)
The 'Raging Bull' had mainly a disappointing year in 2007. While his first defence resulted in a 12^th round TKO victory over Victor Burgos, it also resulted in the challenger sustaining a serious head trauma, something that definitely affected Vic. His second defence resulted in Darchinyan's first professional defeat at the hands of Filipino Nonito Donaire in what has been largely agreed by most boxing observers as the Knockout of the Year and also Upset of the Year.

Darchinyan's arrogance in focusing on all out aggression, hunger for knockout victories and insufficient attention to defence is what lead to his demise. In October “The Raging Bull” made a comeback and won a hard fought battle with another Filipino, Frederico Catubay, scoring a 12^th round TKO. In February 2008 it is probably going to be a make or break fight with yet another Filipino fighter, Z Gorres. The fact that this fight is being held in the Philippines indicates that the opponent has some ability and from what I have read Vic Darchinyan will be in for a VERY tough fight, he will want to make it clean because he won’t get any favours whatsoever in his opponent’s backyard.

SAKIO BIKA - (Contender III series Champion, two-time world title challenger)
2007 was a very big year for Sakio Bika; a total of five professional fights (even if three of them were part of The Contender’s television series). Sakio started off with a tough 12 round win over South Africa’s Andrew Thysse, (who went 11 rounds with Mikkel Kessler). Bika then traveled to Canada,  losing a 12 round decision in an IBF title eliminator to current IBF Super Middleweight Champ Lucian Bute. Subsequently, Bika then beat Don McCrary by decision over 5 rounds in the 1^st round of The Contender and then picked up a very important victory in a rematch with Sam Soliman in the 2^nd round of The Contender. Bika then won "The Contender" series by stopping Jaidon Codrington in the 8^th round in a very entertaining bout, winning $750,000 in prize money in the process.

SAM SOLIMAN
Started the year well by receiving two desired wishes in one package. A shot at a  world title and a rematch with Anthony Mundine. The end result turned out to be a nightmare for Soliman, as Mundine handed Sam the most comprehensive beating and defeat of his career. Soliman then appeared on 'The Contender' winning two bouts and losing to the eventual winner Sakio Bika. As awkward, fit and tough as Sam is to an opponent, 2007 should have taught him that he is a bit small for the  top Super Middleweights.  Hopefully Sam decides to drop down to middleweight where he could build his ranking up a bit and then challenge Arthur Abraham for the IBF title, as I still feel he could spring an upset and become a world champ. 
 

LOVEMORE NDOU - (Former IBF Super Welterweight Champion)
The South African born Ndou won an IBF Super Lightweight elimination bout against Ben Rabah with an 11^th round TKO victory and as Ricky Hatton did not wish to face his mandatory in favour of a big money bout with Jose Luis Castillo, Ndou was crowned IBF champ. This was a pretty good deal for Ndou, as I couldn’t see him beating Ricky Hatton. Ndou subsequently lost the IBF to Paul Malignaggi in his first defence. What’s next for Ndou? He has a bout on the undercard of Malignaggi against Rafael Ortiz and provided both Malignaggi & Ndou win, there is a rematch clause that Malignaggi agreed upon to get his shot against Ndou; so as unappealing as a rematch sounds, Malignaggi will more than likely have to face Ndou again or his promotional team will need to find a nice chunk of step aside cash so Malignaggi can make a more lucrative defence against someone like Ricky Hatton perhaps. Personally I hope Lovemore Ndou retires soon as he is 36 with a law degree and has a great future ahead of him, he has always been a tough test for anyone he has faced, just ask Miguel Cotto, Sharmba Mitchell, Junior Witter & Paul Malignaggi all current or past world champions who were force to go the distance with Lovemore but soon he will go from being a contender to being a stepping stone for young up & coming prospects and that is not a desirable place to be.    

1-1-2008