MUNDINE MAKES HIS CRITICS AND ECHOLS EAT HUMBLE PIE! By Darren Yates, from Down Under

On Wednesday night at approximately 11:15 PM (Eastern standard time in Australia), Anthony Mundine won a lopsided and unanimous 12 round points victory over Antwun Echols at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. In the process he has probably made many of his critics eat humble pie and transform them into believers in his ability (yours truly included).

In what was a very entertaining night the main event was warmed up by one of the best fights I have seen in a long while between Gurkan Ozkan and Rico Chong Ni. This bout matched two boxers with completely contrasting styles, a powerful slugger similar to Jeff Lacy but not as highly skilled in Gurkan Ozkan and a slick switch hitting boxer in the same mold of a Chris Byrd or Junior Witter in Rico Chong Li.

This bout had everything, skillful displays of boxing ability, huge punches swung and landed, both boxers at times hurt and out on their feet. The crowd appreciated both men's efforts. If fight of the year was decided without the bias of known and popular fighters, this bout could easily be ranked in there with chance of fight of year!

As for the main event, Antwun Echols enters the ring carrying both an Australian and USA flag, and is greeted with a mixture of cheers and boos, an indication that there were plenty of people in the crowd who wanted to see Mundine beaten again. This is about as good as it gets support wise when fighting in someone else's backyard. Next Aboriginal dancers perform a ritual cleaning ceremony to the tune of a didgeridoo. Mundine's entry into the ring is relatively low key. Echols was in the ring nearly 20 minutes before the bout commenced.

The bout starts with both fighters looking a little cold, nothing of any significance happened in this round and I felt Echols took this round on the score cards because he forced the action more. Round 2 and Echols is showing the first signs of frustration as basically every head punch he throws is missing by miles. Mundine on the other hand starts to score with stiff clean jabs and a couple of clubbing right hands that were half scoring and half blocked by Echols high guard. By round 4 the tone of the fight was well set with Echols pursuing Mundine all around the ring swinging wildly and missing with just about everything. Mundine is moving a lot and clinching at every opportunity when Echols came in close. At this stage I had Mundine winning every round after the first.

Round 5 was more of the same until Echols landed a very clean and solid right hand body punch. Mundine is holding and clinching like his life depended upon it. An even round, perhaps Echols could have stolen it on the scorecards. Round 6 Echols land his first meaningful punch to Mundine's head, a right hand. Echols continues to dominate the round and is the first I had him clearly winning since the 1st.

Round 7, the previous round must have stung Mundine into action as he picks up the pace and landed some big punches himself, the most dominant round of the fight for Mundine. In round 8 Mundine is still landing his jab at will and counter punching Echols with relative ease, Echols is still stalking dangerously and swinging wildly. Mundine is moving well but holding way too much. By this point in the fight I felt Mundine should have been deducted a point for clinching and excessive holding. The referee appeared reluctant to do this and upset the hometown crowd and perhaps this was the only real advantage Mundine was given by fighting at home. I'm sure a referee would have deducted a point or two if he was fighting a German fighter in Germany.

Rounds 9 & 10 was again more of the same with both fighters looking fatigued and Mundine landing good counter right hand punches with more impact as well as his ever present quick, crisp jab.

At the start of round 11, Echols' left eye was badly swollen and starting to close. Antwun's attack plan all night was slow and very predictable and severely lacking the use of an effective uppercut. Mundine was seeing easily all of Echols' punches early and countering with increasingly heavy punches.

The final round was very interesting as Echols came out with a do or die attitude, swinging wildly and more desperately. Echols did land a very good right hand that spun Mundine's mouth piece out and he gained a few extra seconds to recover when the referee incorrectly tried to place the piece back in the fighter's mouth without having it washed by the corner. This no doubt disadvantaged Echols as it stopped any momentum he had with one of the best punches he landed all fight. Mundine in return landed more and bigger punches in the final round than Echols did and Mundine pushed Antwun in the back in a poor show of sportsmanship after the bell had rung and Echols had his arms raised.

It was very clear before the decision was announced who had won the bout, although one of the judges had scored the bout 115-114 to Mundine, this puzzled the hell out of me considering how strongly Mundine dominated the fight. This was not a hometown decision, I'm not a one eyed Mundine supporter. What was very pleasing for me was the fact that Mundine was very humble in victory and thanked the fans and asked his critics like me to accept his victory and to support him. There were no outrageous statements, no degrading comments of his opponent or Mundine's critics. Any bravado or cockiness was what you would expect from someone who had just won their first world title (although, that is another story!)

My predictions to preview this bout, well... few came true. I did get a few things right, I thought Mundine's speed of foot and hand troubled Echols, but for a lot longer than I thought he'd maintain it. The recent deaths of his Aunty Jenny and cousin Michael may have provided extra inspiration as he dedicated the fight to them during post fight comments. I also think the fact that Mundine didn't get caught up in talking too much trash before the fight and was more respectful to his opponent's ability was a big difference. Apart from these factors, I was way off the mark!

The most impressive factors in this bout were Mundine's defence as far as covering his chin with his shoulder and evading punches and his lateral movement, jab and quick counter punching. The only thing I really disliked about his style is when he runs without any intention of punching and his over use of holding and clinching. I know some people say this is a smart tactic to use, but to me it is barely legal and should be discouraged or stopped as it promotes less skill and an easy way out. I really think he should have been deducted a point or two here and I'd suggest any future opponents do whatever they can to make a referee act upon this.

As far as Echols is concerned, this was probably his most convincing defeat. I have not seen his bouts with Bernard Hopkins, but I understand he preformed much better against the current undisputed middleweight champ. I'm sure Echols will be feeling very sore and sorry for himself today with one eye completely swollen shut.

What does the future hold for Mr. Mundine? Well, I would pick him to beat Sven Ottke in a return match, but I can't see that happening, even in Germany. The only guys in the division who would stand a chance would be Joe Calzaghe, Jeff Lacy, Danny Green and Bernard Hopkins if he moved up in weight. Even so Mundine would caused huge problems for these guys.

As for my nickname of "The Mouth" for Anthony Mundine, it appears I might have to transfer this to Gurkan Ozkan who before his bout called out every Super Middleweight in the division and said they were scared to fight him and even said he'd welcome a fight with Mike Tyson. Based on his bout with Rico Chong Li, he still has a lot of improving to do before he can back up his claims. If Jeff Lacy's promoters are finding it difficult to get an opponent, please contact Gurkan Ozkan's promoters, I would really like to see him put his money where his mouth is!

Has Anthony Mundine converted me to being a fan? Well, the jury is still out on that. I am pleased that an Australian has won a world title (we should have two with the Danny Green debacle!) and regardless of my opinion of who the legitimate WBA champ is, Anthony Mundine beat his first truly world class opponent easily, so he paid his dues and deserves my respect.

I'm not a big fan of fighters who spend a large percentage of their time holding, clinching and running. Fighters like Vernon Forrest who are skilled but take an easy (some people say smart) option to prevent being hit. Mundine seems to be developing this type of style so I can't be an avid fan of his in the same way I am with Kostya Tszyu or Danny Green.

9-03-03

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