By Srithar Visuasam: IBO middleweight champion, Daniel Geale (21-0, 13 KOs) will defend his world title against fellow Australian Anthony Mundine (35-3, 23 KOs) at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia on May 27.
This will be the fourth scheduled defense of Geale’s IBO belt which he won in December 2007 via unanimous decision against compatriot Daniel Dawson for the vacant title.. Since then, the 28 year old has successfully defended his title against Croatian Gerard Ajetkovic, New Zealander Daniel McKinnon (both on points) and most recently against Canadian Ian MacKillop via first round knockout.
Mundine, 33, is now campaigning in the middleweight division after fighting his entire career of over 8 years at super middleweight. After relinquishing the WBA super middleweight title after his defeat of countryman Sam Soliman on May 28 last year, Mundine proceeded on a transition to the middleweight division by fighting two bouts at a catch weight against Korean Crazy Kim and Uruguayan Rafael Sosa Pintos. His first bout at middleweight was on February 11 against compatriot Shannan Taylor where Mundine won a comfortable 12 round points decision.
The bout is set to be one of the best match ups on Australian shores in recent years between two leading middleweights on the world scene. In addition to being IBO champion, Geale is ranked #10 IBF, #11 WBC and #9 by the Ring Magazine while Mundine is the mandatory challenger for Felix Sturm’s WBA title. Boxrec.com has Mundine and Geale ranked at numbers 4 and 5 respectively.
Despite being the reigning champion, undefeated and a 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Geale will go into the bout as the underdog. The more experienced Mundine will enter the ring as favourite as he seeks to achieve a world title in a second weight division to go with his two WBA super middleweight titles in 2003 and 2007.