I can't remember when so many boxers from Australia (including boxers born overseas fighting out of Australia) have been positioned so well in the world ranking's. There are a few who are about to receive a title shot and there are many on the verge of receiving a title shot. Here is a sample of the talent currently fighting out of Australia and where they are positioned at the moment. Kostya Tszyu (Undisputed Super Welterweight Champion) Most boxing fans know Tszyu and his reputation, so there is no need to expand here apart from the fact he is still around and keen to shut Sharmba "Little Bigmouth Mitchell's big mouth! ~~~~~~~~~~ Danny Green (Super Middleweight) WBC Interim Champion A very impressive fighter for those of you have haven't seen Danny Green. Lou DiBella has described him as a Super Middleweight version of Arturo Gatti, a reasonable comparison. After pulverizing Marcus Beyer over 5 rounds in Germany a year ago only to lose by a very controversial disqualification, Danny Green stopped the very experienced and tough Eric Lucas in 6 rounds for the WBC Interim Super Middleweight title. Green was supposed to get a rematch with Beyer but complications brought about by injuries to both fighters have prevented a rematch from occurring to date. Also Beyer unexpectedly lost his title to Christian Savania and the two are scheduled for a rematch. Beyer's promoters (who also now control Savania's promotional interests) want Green to hand over all options on Danny's future bouts, a position that is not acceptable to the Green camp. It appears as there is a solution to this mess with the WBC scheduled to conduct a purse bid for Danny Green (WBC Interim Champ) to face Mikkel Kessler (WBC #1 contender) in an official elimination bout with the winner guaranteed to receive a title shot at the winner of Savania-Beyer II and more importantly, the shot will come without need to give this particular group of unethical German promoters any options on future bouts. Green still has to beat Kessler, whom I understand is a very capable boxer with excellent power. If Green does succeed in winning the WBC Super Middleweight belt, hopefully Anthony Mundine will stop running from a bout with Danny and finally put his money where his mouth is! ~~~~~~~~~~ Paul Briggs (Light Heavy Weight) # 1 WBC & # 6 WBA ranked contender Just over a week ago Paul Briggs defeated Drew Stipe by 12 round decision to become the WBC official number one contender for its version of the Light Heavyweight title. I have just read that Stipe Drews feels shortchanged in his loss to Briggs. I'll comment further about this after I view the bout (as it was not aired on PPV at the last moment) but it is hard for me to understand how he feels this way when the 6'  5" Croatian was knocked down three times, penalized three separate points for a couple of knees to the groin, headbutts and other rule infringements. From the reports I have read Drews should feel lucky for not being disqualified. In his last outing, Briggs climbed from the canvas early in his bout with Jesus Ruiz to earn another points victory. He has also had a points victory over Jorge Castro and has also knocked out former world title challenger Glenn Kelly in four rounds with a single punch.  With Antonio Tarver hell bent on getting a big payday against Roy Jones Jnr or Bernard Hopkins it appears Briggs will get screwed by the WBC. I can see his opportunity to fight for their title delayed or pushed to the side while Tarver & Jones get given preferential treatment because of the money a rematch will generate. Hopefully the WBC will show Briggs some loyalty as he has declined offers to fight for the IBF title because he wanted to fight for the WBC belt. I won't hold my breath waiting for the WBC to grant him his shot. ~~~~~~~~~~ Sam Soliman (Middleweight) # 1 IBF contender, # 5 WBC & # 10 ranked contender Has recently become potential opponent for the winner of Hopkins-De La Hoya by winning an IBF elimination bout for their #1 contender's slot. Like Paul Briggs, I don't see him getting a shot at the title for some time as the winner of Hopkins-La Hoya will be looking for bouts against the likes of Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Mayorga or Antonio Tarver. Sam Soliman in his approach to the sport and potential opponents as he is willing fight anyone around his weight anytime, anywhere and usually with short notice. He has fought some well ranked fighters including Howard Eastman, Ray Joval (twice), Glenn Kelly, Kevin Kelly, Anthony Mundine & Nader Hamden. This is a man who is unconcerned about the losses on his record. Sam has an excellent chin and has only been knocked down once in his career. He also has excellent defensive skills, is always very fit and of recent times he has been throw a high volume of punches during his fights. He is my favourite defensive fighter. Why? Because he also throws a LOT of punches whilst not getting hit much in return and he uses movement to evade punches as opposed to running away from his opponents or holding ( tactics so many people think are skills to be praised ). He will be a tough task for any fighter from Middleweight up to Light Heavyweight. I do believe Soliman has fought as high as Cruiserweight in the past and been successful. At this stage I could see Hopkins beating Soliman on points in a very competitive bout and think Sam would defeat De La Hoya on points. At this time Soliman is scheduled to face Julio Caesar Vasquez in Australia in September or October and he  is trying to get a bout with Jermain Taylor after that,  hopefully before the end of the year. I think Taylor's people might steer him away for Soliman. Regardless of when or where he gets his opportunity, Sam will most likely keep very busy. ~~~~~~~~~~ Vic Darchinian (Flyweight) # 1 IBF & # 9 WBC ranked contender At present Vic Darchinian is scheduled to face Irene Pacheco for the IBF Flyweight title in Hollywood (Florida) on the 3rd of September. I haven't seen much of Vic Darchinian, but from what I have seen he is very tough,  fearless and in possession of great power. He is very determined to win a world title and from reports I have heard, he is in great shape for his upcoming title shot. His trainer Jeff Fenech is only worried about overconfidence going into the bout with Pacheco. I expect Vic to give Pacheco a very difficult fight, don't be surprised if there is a new IBF flyweight champion soon. ~~~~~~~~~~ Robbie Peden (Super Featherweight) # 1 IBF , # 10 WBC & # 7 WBA ranked contender Robbie has fought his entire professional career in the USA, he's been around for a while and has come close to a title shot in the past but has been pipped at the post a couple of times. This situation has changed after one of the most bizarre pieces of behaviour I have ever seen by a boxer when Peden faced Nate Campbell. If you didn't see the bout, Campbell had Peden hurt with a body punch in the 4th round and then stood with his hands down daring Peden to hit him. Robbie obliged by unloading a power left hook cross uppercut leaving Campbell unable to beat the count. Hopefully Robbie will get his shot at the IBF title soon. It remains to be seen whether Erik Morales will give Peden a shot or whether he will relinquish the title to pursue more lucrative bouts. Either way, I'm looking for Peden to get his hard earned shot at the title. ~~~~~~~~~~ Lovemore Ndou (Junior Welterweight) # 6 IBF contender Lovemore "Mr Hyperactive" Ndou is much like like Sam Soliman in his approach to the sport and potential opponents as he is willing fight anyone around his weight anytime, anywhere and usually with short notice. Already this year he has given Sharmba Mitchell and Miguel Cotto all they can handle. Sharmba Mitchell can think himself very lucky to get the decision over Ndou. It is interesting to see Lovemore now training under Jeff Fenech as the two had a very public feud a few years ago, nice to see people forgiving and forgetting as I'm sure Jeff will only add considerable value to Lovemore's career. As tough and skilled as Lovemore Ndou is, its hard to see him getting a shot at a title soon due to the losses to Mitchell & Cotto. Viviam Harris could be his best bet. Perhaps if Lovemore directed his attention to Harris instead of trying to pursue an unlikely shot at Kostya Tszyu he might end up in a position to make a few more demands. Send Mr.  Harris an open letter like you did to Ricky Hatton. I'm sure you will get a response Lovemore. ~~~~~~~~~~ Hussein Hussein (Flyweight) # 5 IBF ranked contender Recently challenged for the WBC Flyweight title in Thailand and lost a unanimous points decision in a very evenly contested bout. Hussein Hussein is a very solid boxer with excellent power and crippling body punching capabilities, especially to left rip. Hopefully we will be seeing get a shot some version of a world very soon! ~~~~~~~~~~   Nedal Hussein (Super Bantamweight) # 1 WBC, # 6 WBA & # 6 IBF ranked contender Nedal Hussein fought a very competitive fight a few years ago with Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines dropping the current star. Apparently the hometown fighter was given a long count. Hussein was then controversially stopped on a cut eye late in the fight.  Hussein's trainer Jeff Fenech has been unable to get a copy of this fight ANYWHERE to plead his case. Like his brother Nedal, Hussein is a very solid boxer with excellent body punching capabilities. Hopefully we will be seeing him get a shot at the WBC title very soon! ~~~~~~~~~~ Anthony Mundine (Super Middleweight) # 2 WBA contender Probably the least deserving of a title shot out of any of the fighters listed considering his last performance. He couldn't blame his injured ankle on his appalling effort because he spent plenty of time running away during the course of surrendering his title to Manny Siaca. Luckily we did not see a dreadful hometown decision (like we have become used to seeing in Germany!) and the winner of the bout also was given the decision on the judges scorecards. Anthony's profile from previous sporting life as top Rugby League player and not mention his big mouth make sure that he will put enough bums on seats to earn himself another title shot in the not too distant future. The WBA has apparently stated Mundine will get a shot at the winner of Manny Siaca- Mads Larsen. Mundine is scheduled to face the very fit and tough Sean Sullivan in September. Why this bout is happening is anyone's guess as Mundine has previously out pointed Sullivan. My educated guess why Sullivan has been chosen ( for those of you who don't know, Mundine usually gets to choose who he fights) is that Sean whilst being very fit and tough, does not possess much fire power and Mundine does not exactly have a great chin. I guess his team want him to get a few rounds under his belt and I'm pretty sure Sean Sullivan will see out the distance. The big problem is Mundine won't learn much from this outing. ~~~~~~~~~~ Kali Meehan ( Heavyweight ) Not ranked Scheduled to face Lamont Brewster for the WBO Heavyweight title in September. Technically I think Kali is a Kiwi but he fights out of Australia. He has decent skills and reasonable power. We won't have to wait long to see how useful he is at world level.  ~~~~~~~~~~ Shannan Taylor ( Junior Middleweight ) # 3 IBF contender Of the fighters list here, Shannan is the most unlikely to win a title, he has lost the punching power he possessed when he fought at Super Lightweight and Welterweight. He's probably best known for lasting 5 rounds with Shane Mosley a few years ago displaying a very big heart to get up from a monster right hand Mosley landed in the 1st round of their bout. Lost subsequent fights both by TKO in Australia and England. Shannan has fought some bigger battles outside the ring with booze and drugs a few years ago but seems to be back on track but my biggest concern with him is that if his power does not upset his opponent he just cruises along with a very average work rate. I don't think he has what it takes to go to world championship level (I will be quite happy to be proven wrong). Darren Yates 8-25-2004 Brought to you by Saratogamist copyright 2001-2004