Why Anthony Mundine is fighting Sam Soliman

As explained by Soliman's manager Stuart Duncan to those controversial pundits.

I will tell you why Sam is fighting Mundine again:
Sam fought Tony Mundine in 2001 on 11 days notice and traveled from London to take the fight in Sydney. Everyone in that stadium knew who won the fight other than 2 judges & Mundine as was evident by the rubbish being hurled into the ring and jeers by his own fans. He had to be guarded & ushered out off the ring. The media had a frenzy the following day and in most peoples eyes Sam won the fight.

Mundine and Sam met again in Sydney last year and there is no dispute about who won the fight obviously.
In saying this Sam fought the wrong fight as he tried to reinvent himself as a puncher and wanting to stand there and trade blows with him, Sam got caught cold in the 2nd round and never regained full composure from there on as he injured his knee on his way to the canvas being unable to maneuver his way around the ring in the awkward manner he usually does and completely regaining his composure. He was still going on until the 9th round.
Sam gets stopped for the first time in his 42 fight career in the 9th - no disgrace in that. Jermain Taylor got stopped by Kelly Pavlik in the same round and they just had a rematch did they not ?

Sam fought Neville Brown in London for his Commonwealth Title who was number WBC 12 at the time - he traveled to Japan & defeated Suzuki who was WBA # 10 at the time - He fought Nader Hamden in Sydney who was rated inside the top 10 by 3 of the major sanctioning bodies at the time. He then fought Ray Joval IBF # 2 for the number 1 position and beat him in the USA. He also fought & beat IBF # 12 Enrique Ornelus in the USA. Tell me how many current day Australian boxers have traveled abroad or to their opponents backyards & defeated 5 top 15 world rated opponents Stuart asks!!

Sam took Howard Eastman when he was at the top of his game (a monster of a middleweight) the distance in London and gave Winky Wright who was respected as pound for pound # 2 in the world the distance, again in his backyard hitting him more times than he's been hit in a fight as described by Emanuel Steward. Wright had just soundly defeated Felix Trinidad 42-1 where the judges score cards read 120-107 & 2 judges cards at 119-108. The cards
read 115-113 - 115-112 & one blind judge who saw it 117-110. So in anyone's eyes Sam gave a much better account of himself than Felix did.

Sam has won 23 of his last 26 outings with losses to Wright, Mundine & a close points loss to Sakio Bika in a fight that had it had gone 10 or 12 rounds Sam would've won comfortably. Sam rocked Sakio midway through the bout and dominated the final rounds as the score cards indicated. "Note in saying this Sakio got the nod on this occasion and he did himself & Australia proud" - so we are taking nothing away from Sakio. In saying this Sam since Mundine has defeated one undefeated Super Middleweight & a 6'3" s/paw light heavyweight with a record of
17-2.

Put simply Sam is a professional boxer with 45 fights under his belt with plenty of credibility. His rating is nothing more than an administrative error as acknowledged by the WBA - Sam hasn't fought at middleweight since 2006! how on earth can he realistically be rated there for anything other than an administrative error.
I had Sam fully examined including brain scans & psychological assessment done after the Mundine fight last year, Not at Sam's doctors, but a recommended a senior lecturer (medicine) at Melbourne University and had an independent Dr. referred.
Sam passed all examinations 100% ... I would not allow Sam to continue fighting without a full assessment - and again being realists in light of the fact that he has since gone onto take Sakio the distance and defeated a super Middle & a Light Heavy - this would indicate that Sam is physically & mentally right to fight.

Sam has now gone back to basics and is concentrating on the strengths in his style that seen him perform at his best - work rate - stamina - awkward angles and will be fighting off a stratedgy utilising these strengths - not trying to reinvent new ones. His focus and mental preperation and sparring for this fight will be significantly better than the last outing while he remains in the USA to prepare for this fight. His trainer is returning to the USA with him where they will be sparring out of the Wild Card against quality opponents.

Fighting Mundine the last time was Sams first outing in years at super middle, he has now had the chance to condition himself properly at this weight and we feel in light of the reasons cited that he will give a much better account of himself this time around.
For those that are narrow-minded enough to not see any merit in my explanation and think he doesn't deserve another chance because he was stopped for the first time in his career - then you're entitled to your opinion. Every boxer aspires to become World Champion and we feel that finally Sam is getting a chance to fight for a World Title in his backyard for once and that with the right preparation is in with a chance.

Why would Mundine fight Sam Soliman and not Sakio Bika?
Simply put Sam is known around the world and respected for his achievements on a global scale. Even though he didn't win the Contender series, he was voted crowd favorite from the viewing audience. Sakio isnt rated by the WBA at all and if his management was serious about fighting him you would think they would have done something to remedy it.
Sakio's management have done little to capitalize on his win and to build his profile over there. Mundine will get more accolade and recognition from a win over Sam than he would Sakio and that's what they are looking at. Sam has earned his reputation and had a win over Sakio Bika previously.

by Stu Duncan
 

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