A lot of critics apparently gave Anthony Mundine a hard time for defending his regular WBA Super Middleweight title against Nader Hamden, for a change I wasn’t one of those doing the criticizing. I knew Nader Hamden would be a tough nut for Anthony Mundine to crack and would provide the perfect opportunity for Anthony Mundine to get some hard fought rounds under his belt. Nader Hamden took Mundine the full 12 rounds with neither man being knockdown during the fight. This type of performance will earn Anthony Mundine a lot of new fans as there were no stupid or outrageous statements leading up to the fight (apart from calling arch rival Danny Green “Gay”), there was no showboating during the bout or taunting of his opponent. Finally Anthony Mundine has let his fists do the talking and perhaps now he has gained the maturity to be deserving of his nickname “The Man.” I just hope this is not a once off performance because he was fighting one of his mates and a fellow Muslim. I hope he can show all of his future opponents the same respect, not to mention the paying fight fans.

Before the bout, I thought Mundine might score a TKO from the 6^th round onwards but with the longest preparation for any fight of his career, Nader Hamden proved to be far too tough and well prepared to be stopped. In fact he stayed on his feet the entire fight, a simply amazing display of toughness considering the amount of clean shots Mundine landed from the 7^th round onwards. Nader Hamden took the fight up to Mundine the whole fight and his defence held pretty well for the first 6 rounds although he was taking more shots than he was landing. Nader’s willingness to fight whilst not being reckless was very impressive, he landed a lot of clean shots during the bout, mainly some good jabs and excellent body shots, his overhand right found its mark a few times but Mundine managed to either partially block or deflect most of those shots, the few that did get through cleanly rattled Mundine but at no time in the bout was Mundine in trouble or seriously hurt.

I saw Mundine sucking for air quite a few times during the bout and in between rounds, if he was feeling the pace at any stage, Nader didn’t quite have the skills, speed or power necessary to turn the fight his way as every time Hamden landed some decent punches, Mundine would fire back with sharp, crisp punches with much more frequency and definitely more impact. From the 7^th round, Hamden’s face was showing signs of all the shots he had taken and he was looking physically weary. Mundine, however, maintained his sharpness for most of the fight. Even with such an impressive effort by Nader Hamden I only had him winning one, possibly two rounds, in the entire bout and the judges scores reflected my observations. Still a blowout in the scorecards does not reflect how tough and hard fought this contest was. As far as recent fights held in Australia, this was probably the most entertaining and tough bout I have seen since Mundine’s last loss against Mikkel Kessler. A lot of people commented before the fight that Mundine will carry Hamden because they are friends and both devoted Muslims, the truth is neither fighter gave the other any quarter and both men tried very hard to stop the other whilst fighting with excellent sportsmanship all the while without compromising the flow of action.

So where does each man go from here? In his post fight speech Nader Hamden expressed his frustration in trying to get a rematch with the man who gave him his first pro defeat, Sam Soliman. Personally, I think Nader should retire from the sport, he has nothing else to prove and if he continues it could prove to take a bad toll on his body. If Nader retires now he will be best remembered for his brave effort in his only world title shot. As for Anthony Mundine, he really has a chance to capitalize on this impressive title defence. If Anthony Mundine continues down the path he has just taken and continues to fight tough and credible opponents his popularity could grow substantially as more people who used to want to see him knocked out or knocked back a peg or two start tuning in to cheer for him to win. I am one of those people and I say to Anthony Mundine that actions, not words will change the public’s perception of you in Australia and around the world too. You have taken one of the biggest steps in the right direction in your career, I sincerely hope you keep going in this direction because not only will you get the financial rewards and respect for fighting the best opponents available, by the time you retire you might just end being adored by the majority of the Australian public.

I am feeling very positive about Anthony Mundine’s next fight, surely the WBA will make him fight a mandatory defence after 3 optional defences since winning the regular title in March 2007 against Sam Soliman. Who that will be against I am unsure but I have read a report on the “secondsout.com” boxing website that Mikkel Kessler's promoters are lobbying for Mikkel to be installed as the WBA’s No.1 contender, he is currently ranked No.2 by the WBA and I believe Jurgen Brahmer is ranked No.1. Kessler would be the best possible next opponent for Anthony Mundine and now would be the best time for him to tackle the big Dane with Kessler coming off an emotionally draining loss to Joe Calzaghe and with Mundine coming off a very good win with tough rounds in the process. It wouldn’t surprise me if the WBA does install Kessler as the No.1 contender and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mundine has to face Kessler in Denmark as the big Dane has a huge profile in Europe and probably commands the ability to generate more revenue and if it comes to a purse bid it would take a huge bid to get the fight in Australia again. Still, I would settle for Mundine to face any of the following top contenders: Edison Miranda, Jurgen Brahmer, Jeff Lacey, Librado Andrade, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Dennis Ikin or Carl Froch. If Anthony Mundine thinks this is too high an expectation of him, well he is the one who has been shouting to world he is the greatest. He needs to take a short break and seek out his next challenger and take a step up to even tougher completion next time out. I’d say he will be ready to fight again in May or June depending upon who he is allowed or ordered to fight next. A unification bout with Lucian Bute would be even better, it would be interesting to see if the WBA makes the winner a super champ too. Can you imagine what a joke it would be to see two WBA Super Champs and a regular Champ too.

On a side note, the WBA is a strange sanctioning body! It is demanding Danny Green make the first defence of his newly acquired WBA Light Heavyweight title against the Hugo Garay, the number one contender, when it allowed  Anthony Mundine 3 optional title defences in a row after Mundine won the title in March 2007. It seems very inconsistent and not fair, but boxing is a sport which is very rarely fair! I will be dismayed and disgusted if the WBA grants Mundine another optional title defence, but then again I would not be surprised either. I just hope he is NOT allowed to chose an opponent at will and then see the WBA maneuver the chosen opponent into their top 15 sometime later.

Darren Yates