Horn v Mundine: Anthony Mundine grabs Jeff Horn by throat
Anthony Mundine has come out swinging against Jeff Horn ahead of Friday night’s River City Rumble, saying he will embarrass the Brisbane boxer.
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Update: Anthony Mundine bares his teeth and snarls like a tiger as he thinks about pouncing on a wounded Jeff Horn at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night and then ripping him apart.
All the lean, sinewy muscles in Mundine’s chest, neck and arms bulge with menace.
The names of his five children, tattooed on his arms, neck and over his heart, dance about as though in agreement as he says Horn will be exposed.
Mundine, who away from the spotlight, is surprisingly quiet and reserved in contrast to his brash public persona, seems to morph into a different creature as he explains his shape shifting.
His eyes shine brightly as a deep fire burns within and he snaps: “I’m a different beast man. I’m like a wounded animal. A caged tiger. Horn and the cats with him have underestimated me. They’ve made a big mistake.’’
Mundine, 43, was explaining how a rugby league star who first played for the St George Dragons 25 years ago at 86kg could squeeze his body down to 70.25kg on Thursday to face Horn, a hungry destroyer 13 years his junior.
In an ugly confrontation Mundine went straight for the jugular grabbing Horn around the neck at the official weigh-in for Friday’s Suncorp showdown.
Mundine faced a $1 million penalty on Thursday if he was more than 2kg over the 71kg limit for the fight and showed he was not ready to concede cash or kudos. He was 300g lighter than Horn who weighed 70.55kg.
The two fighters were eyeballing each other up close after stepping off the scales at Suncorp when Mundine suddenly grabbed Horn by the chin and throat.
“I’m ready to kill man,’’ Mundine said, with a look of wild desperation.
He claimed he had “nothing personal’’ against Horn but that the Fighting Schoolteacher represented “white privilege in Australia’’.
“He represents injustice,’’ Mundine said. “He stands for all the things I’m against. He wants to wave the flag, he wants to play the anthem. He doesn’t even understand what all that means.’’
Horn refused to retaliate against Mundine’s attack on Thursday, saying he was saving his punches for the fight.
Even though Australia’s greatest boxer Jeff Fenech said Mundine had come in too light and would suffer as a result, Mundine said: “I wanted to be this light. It just makes me hungrier and more explosive.
“I just want to give this boy a boxing lesson. Horn’s a good young kid but I’m The Man. I’m the show. Horn’s going to be embarrassed.
“They don’t know how I train. They don’t know about my discipline. My determination.’’
Mundine said he could change shape and weight quickly and easily with diet and exercise. He says while he pumped iron as an NRL star, he hasn’t lifted weights for years preferring boxing training to chisel his body.
He said Horn’s use of heavy weights in the early stages of his preparation for this fight would backfire.
“All those weights make you slow,’’ Mundine said. “I’m fast, man. Super-fast and deadly. Your muscles need to be like sponges for boxing. They need to be explosive. I’m faster than Horn and better looking too. Look at my face, not a mark. Eighteen years in this sport and still pretty as a girl. Horn won’t know what hit him.’’
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Originally published as Horn v Mundine: Anthony Mundine grabs Jeff Horn by throat
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