Mundine vs Echols - The Moment of Truth!

By Darren Yates, from Down Under
www.bragingrightscorner.com

02.09 - There has been something very different in the build up to Anthony Mundine's most important bout of his professional boxing career. There has not been a lot of the glitz and glamour associated with other bouts that he has staged in Australia. It is also quite refreshing not to hear Anthony Mundine talk trash and make ridiculous statements about himself like he is the second coming of Muhammad Ali and the ruthless verbal degrading of his opponents. As Mr. Mundine is behaving himself this time around, I will not refer to him as the "The Mouth" (my preferred nickname for him).

I guess the reason that Mundine is behaving himself is he knows he will be facing a monster of a fighter in the other corner in Antwun Echols. Mr Echols has walked the walk in previous bouts with the likes of Bernard Hopkins (twice) and Charles Brewer to name a few; he is a skilled, seasoned veteran with awesome power and a very good chin.

In all of his professional bouts to date Anthony Mundine has yet to face an opponent of this calibre and I think it is worrying him. This could be a good thing though as if Mundine is focusing on training instead of making ridiculous statements, he should be in a better mental state come fight night. This is countered by the fact that Antwun Echols is definitely winning the pre-fight mind games and verbal sparring. I feel this has definitely worked its way under Mundine's skin as Echols has constantly referred to Mundine as an amateur who won't last 5 rounds and it is easy to see that Echols believes what he is saying and that this is not gamesmanship or false courage.

There have been other worrying signs from Mundine, he has been talking about taking a long rest win, lose or draw. He has even mentioned retirement. This to me does not sound like a focused fighter going into the toughest bout of his career. Mundine has lost two close relatives over the last 6 months or so and that may effect him negatively or perhaps positively (like it did for Buster Douglas!). Time will tell!

As for the bout itself I see Mundine's speed of hand and foot giving Echols problems during the bout, particularly in the early rounds. I wouldn't be surprised if either fighter dropped the other early in the bout. The big difference I see is each respective fighter's ability to take a punch. Echols has been dropped before but he has always risen swinging punches dripping with venom, the man is tough and has come back from impossible situations to snatch victory, something Anthony has yet to do.

Mundine on the other hand does not take a punch well at all, he kind of reminds me of Tommy Morrison in the way that relatively light punches tend to freeze him or shake him right through to his feet. Sean Sullivan and Sven Ottke froze Mundine when they landed some decent punches, it seems to me that Mundine does not know what to do when he has been hit solidly. To be fair, no fighter likes getting hit, but in the sport of boxing a fighter needs to know how to absorb a punch and overcome adversity when under fire. I don't think Mundine knows how to do this yet. It won't be long before we find out.

The one battle I think Anthony Mundine will win this week is he may receive the general public support if he remains humble like he has been over the last couple of weeks. Win, lose or draw, he acts like a humble Australian and doesn't make excuses in defeat or outrageous claims in victory, the Australian public will love him.

As far as a result is concerned, I'll have to go with Antwun Echols here and predict the bout won't last longer than five rounds as I feel Mundine's whole strategy will fly out the window the first time Echols lands something solid! I could be wrong, but whatever way the fight pans out, I do think it will be entertaining whilst it lasts!