newblokes
08-09-2003, 03:36 PM
(I took this one from www.fightnews.com FYI)
Mundine makes startling confession!
September 6, 2003
By Ray Wheatley -- World of Boxing
Former Rugby League football star and now WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (19-1) has revealed he attempted to pull out of his September 3rd WBA title bout with Antwun Echols on two different occassions ten days prior to the contest.
He told the Sun Herald newspaper that he decided to avoid public ridicule and having to sell his house to repay US$300,000 in debts and stepped in to the ring with Echols winning a one-sided decision.
"The first time I wanted to call the fight off was ten days out from the bout," Mundine said. "I had just been for a run around Centennial Park and I just didn't feel right. I had no energy at all and with a broken rib I just did not think I could fight. I told my manager to call it off.
"He then put it to me about what it would mean. He told me straight that I would have to sell my house to pay everyone for the second cancellation. He talked me around, but then one week out I said, 'Call it off - I'll sell the house'. I just felt so flat. I was 175lbs, I was on a protein diet and I had no energy or power. I just felt like I was going into the fight to get KO'd against a KO machine. I felt there was no way I could go six rounds with a banger like Echols. I was planning on returning to football. I had teams picked out.
"My manager called the WBA and went through what would happen if it was called off and then told me. He told me straight that if I pulled out I would be called a dog and a coward and I would have that label for the rest of my life, and my kids would have to live with that.
"That was what really turned me around. I thought about it and decided I would fight. But I really went into it just to show I was not scared - because that was never an issue, but people thought it was. I went in for financial reasons so that my family could eat and so they would not be on the street. I'm glad I did."
Edited by - newblokes on 08 Sep 2003 14:37:10
Mundine makes startling confession!
September 6, 2003
By Ray Wheatley -- World of Boxing
Former Rugby League football star and now WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (19-1) has revealed he attempted to pull out of his September 3rd WBA title bout with Antwun Echols on two different occassions ten days prior to the contest.
He told the Sun Herald newspaper that he decided to avoid public ridicule and having to sell his house to repay US$300,000 in debts and stepped in to the ring with Echols winning a one-sided decision.
"The first time I wanted to call the fight off was ten days out from the bout," Mundine said. "I had just been for a run around Centennial Park and I just didn't feel right. I had no energy at all and with a broken rib I just did not think I could fight. I told my manager to call it off.
"He then put it to me about what it would mean. He told me straight that I would have to sell my house to pay everyone for the second cancellation. He talked me around, but then one week out I said, 'Call it off - I'll sell the house'. I just felt so flat. I was 175lbs, I was on a protein diet and I had no energy or power. I just felt like I was going into the fight to get KO'd against a KO machine. I felt there was no way I could go six rounds with a banger like Echols. I was planning on returning to football. I had teams picked out.
"My manager called the WBA and went through what would happen if it was called off and then told me. He told me straight that if I pulled out I would be called a dog and a coward and I would have that label for the rest of my life, and my kids would have to live with that.
"That was what really turned me around. I thought about it and decided I would fight. But I really went into it just to show I was not scared - because that was never an issue, but people thought it was. I went in for financial reasons so that my family could eat and so they would not be on the street. I'm glad I did."
Edited by - newblokes on 08 Sep 2003 14:37:10