Rivals Mundine and Green rumble in the jungle
THEY’VE traded insults and punches for more than a decade, and now Anthony Mundine and Danny Green will take their feud into the African jungle, with rumours tennis star Bernard Tomic is also involved.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THEY’VE traded insults and punches for more than a decade, and now Anthony Mundine and Danny Green will take their feud into the African jungle.
The bitter boxing rivals are understood to have agreed to take part in Channel Ten’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! reality show that starts filming later this month.
A fter 12 years of bickering and two huge fights that smashed Australian pay-per-view records, Mundine and Green will go head-to-head in the South African jungle near Kruger National Park alongside other public figures.
It is an odd twist to the greatest boxing rivalry Australia has seen, and comes after failed attempts to stage a third and decisive fight between the pair.
Mundine won the first fight in 2006, which remains the biggest pay-per-view boxing event on Main Event, while Green avenged that loss by scoring a controversial win over Mundine in the rematch last year.
Mundine hotly disputed the scoring of Green’s majority points win and chased a third fight, but Green was not interested and hasn’t fought since.
Mundine moved in a new direction and has lined up a fight against Sydney’s tommy Browne next Wednesday at The Star casino, and it’s understood he will have to fly to South Africa the following week to film the TV series.
Channel Ten teased fans of the show with clues about the 2018 cast late last year, and one referred to two warring identities.
“Two feuding celebrities: Two celebrities in the middle of Australia’s biggest feud will be heading into the jungle. This Australian duo are used to clashing in real life, but what will happen when they are forced to live alongside one another in the unpredictable African terrain?” the promotional clue read.
At the time, many speculated that it could be political or media rivals, but few feuds could surpass that of Mundine and Green, and it will likely deliver a ratings avalanche for the network.
Since the takeover of Ten by the American broadcasting giant CBS, the network has pushed aggressively in its new strategy, most notably poaching Lisa Wilkinson from Channel Nine late last year.
With the Mundine-Green feud to headline the fourth series of I’m A Celebrity, expectations are that the 2018 version will easily out-rate the previous three versions, whose winners were English cricketer Andrew Flintoff, former AFL player Brendan Fevola, and last year, singer Casey Donovan.
Coincidentally, CBS boss Les Moonves is a huge boxing fan and credited for delivering the richest prize fight in history between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in 2015 when he got both camps in one room after years of sniping.
Tennis star Bernard Tomic, singer Ricki-Lee Coulter and The Nanny actor Fran Drescher are also rumoured to be involved.
Neither Mundine nor Green would return calls yesterday but a Channel Ten spokesperson said:”Network Ten does not confirm or deny any speculation about the identities of rumoured celebrities.
“The impressive I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! line up will be revealed to Australia on Sunday 28 January at 7.30pm.”
Originally published as Rivals Mundine and Green rumble in the jungle
’Profits before patients’: Hospital slammed for hiring out maternity ward
The controversial Northern Beaches Hospital is putting “profits before patients” by hiring out one of its two maternity wards to film and TV crews rather than accommodate birthing mothers, irate staff claim.
‘Worth the slug’: Why workers travel hours each day to the office
They are the people who put even the earliest of risers to shame - long haul commuters who travel hundreds of kilometres each day to be able to work in Sydney.