On Wednesday night Anthony Mundine scored a 10th round TKO victory over the very durable Kiwi Sean Sullivan. I personally did not watch this bout, preferring to watch the highlights on the news rather than paying $30 to watch Mr. Mundine fight a man he has previously defeated and I thought should again defeat easily.

 I guess I still have a sour taste in my mouth after Mundine's non-effort whilst surrendering his WBA Super Middleweight title to Manny Siaca earlier this year. Also with so many interesting pay per view bouts coming up in the near future, I decided to spend my entertainment dollar wisely on bouts I know will provide the entertainment value, or bouts that are more evenly matched.

Firstly, some credit where credit is due. Anthony Mundine stopped Sean Sullivan, something that my favourite Super Middleweight Danny Green failed to accomplish and for that matter, any other boxer during the last 11 years has accomplished. Also for the first time this year, in a bout he has fought Anthony was NOT knocked down, another plus. Some more credit where it is due, Mundine is scheduled to fight the Australian Super Middleweight champion Juarne Dowling in 6 weeks time on October 13.

I personally have not seen Dowling fight, so I am not in a position to comment on the outcome, but with a shot at the winner of the Manny Siaca - Mads Larsen WBA Super Middleweight title bout just around the corner, I can't imagine Dowling represents any serious threat to the WBA's No. 2 Super Middleweight contender. The Mundine camp brain trust are usually pretty good at keeping their man out of harm's way.

From the limited highlights I saw on the news, Anthony Mundine was throwing and landing lot of combinations, it certainly appeared he was able to hit Sullivan at will. Whilst the victory appeared to be impressive and Mundine gained a lot of valuable work, I don't think he would have learnt much from the outing. My first thought was those immortal words from Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon: "Very Good, but brick not hit back!"

Just from the highlights I witnessed it seemed very obvious to me that the brutal beating Danny Green gave Sean Sullivan in April took a lot out of the tough Kiwi. It seemed clear  that Sullivan was unable to mount any effective offence. Mundine has always had problems with guys who are able to hit back effectively. Sam Soliman, Sven Ottke, Manny Siaca and to a lesser extent Antwun Echols and Sean Sullivan (in their first bout) all gave Mundine some major problems.

I feel this victory over Sullivan, like so many others Mundine has had in the past was just a glorified sparring session, a body to beat upon. We didn't see Mundine seeking a rematch with Sam Soliman. Will Mr. Mundine be as impressive when Siaca or Larsen are throwing punches at him with bad intentions? Mundine will want to be impressive if he is going to face either man on their own turf because another effort where he is running and holding more than punching won't cut it with the judges to favour him over a local hero.

Some other pleasing attributes for me was the fact that there wasn't the usual trash talk before the bout or ridiculous statements after the bout. Anthony Mundine made some quotes in this weekend's Sun Herald in relation to his loss to Manny Siaca: "I went in with a strong mental approach and I think that's an area that I've really fallen down in recently. That showed against Siaca. I wasn't there mentally..." This is as close as we will get to Mundine admitting he made a mistake, so I guess that was impressive for him.

So it seems Anthony Mundine is back on track and I will be mildly interested to see the results of his next bout with Juarne Dowling. Certainly not interested enough to travel two hours from my home to the Gold Coast to pay an extravagant price to view the bout personally or to pay $30 for the PPV telecast.