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Outrage over Danny Green vs Anthony Mundine 2 at Adelaide Oval

DANNY Green’s blockbuster rematch against Anthony Mundine stopped the nation, but it left a number of huge names disgusted.

Alex BlairAlex Blair
@alexblair_1
5 min read
February 4, 2017 - 12:28PM
Controversy aplenty at Mundine v Green 2.
Controversy aplenty at Mundine v Green 2.

WHAT a night.

Danny Green took his revenge over Anthony Mundine at the Adelaide Oval in what will go down as one of the more controversial nights in Australian boxing.

Green took the fight via majority decision (94-94, 96-94, 98-90), sending thousands of fans into an outrage over the scoring.

A cheap shot by Mundine — which saw him smack Green as the referee moved in to break up the pair — sent the crowd into hysterics early in the piece. What followed was unbridled ecstasy for everyone involved.

Here’s how everyone reacted to the long-awaited rematch.

ANTHONY MUNDINE

Robbed?
Robbed?

Anthony Mundine broke down after losing to his old rival, shedding tears in his dressing room immediately after departing the ring. The 41-year-old, like many others, was convinced he won the fight, slamming scorers before claiming he “deserved” the win.

“I thought I’d done more than enough to win the fight. I thought in my head it was seven rounds to three, at best six rounds to four,” Mundine told Fox Sports.

“I had him beat up. He was bleeding, his eyes were puffy.

“My passion got the better of me, but I still won the fight hands down. It hurts.

When asked what he thought about the controversial 98-90 result, Mundine was incredulous. “That guy (scorer) must have been four-eyes, wearing two sets of glasses or something. I hit him (Green) with the cleanest shots. My jabs controlled him. I countered well. I don’t know, man.

“I thought I won that fight, to me it’s two-nil, I deserved it.”

Mundine took to Twitter soon after leaving the ring, retweeting a post saying “history books will forever tell the story of how Anthony Mundine was robbed”, before sending out his own message of thanks to fans who supported him throughout the night.

DANNY GREEN

‘Just pure elation.’
‘Just pure elation.’

Danny Green opened up on the controversial fight immediately after leaving the ring, revealing his overwhelming joy at levelling his rivalry with Mundine.

“Elated,” he said. “Just pure elation. It was close, it was tough, it was a hard fight.”

Green said the referee wanted to call off the fight after Mundine concussed him with an illegal shot to the back of his head in the first round.

“It wasn’t the ear, it was right here (to the back of his head),” he said. “It was tough to come back from that. The referee was going to call the fight off. My legs were gone, I was seeing double. I thought ‘oh man, this is a bad start.’ But it wasn’t a clean punch. It was a foul. It is what it is.

“I don’t take it personally but it made it difficult to get back into the fight. I had to really dig deep. The ref should have given me some time to recover for that. He took off a point (from Mundine) and he didn’t give me any time to recover. But I still think I won three of the first four rounds which got me off to a good start.”

Green said he wasn’t keeping track of how many rounds he had won during the fight but never felt like he was trailing — not even after being docked a point himself in the seventh. “I was throwing more shots,” he said. “I was throwing harder shots. I was throwing the more aggressive shots and landing some clean shots.”

Even Green himself was surprised with the scorers’ decision.

“I didn’t win by eight points. No chance,” Green said. “It was a close fight.”

BIG NAMES

There were a lot of big names backing Mundine to win via decision.
There were a lot of big names backing Mundine to win via decision.

Jeff Fenech feared for the safety of Mundine before Friday night’s fight.

This morning Australia’s greatest boxer admitted he was horribly wrong — and that Mundine had been robbed at Adelaide Oval last night.

“That was a shit decision,” Fenech said, “Mundine won clearly.

“He won six rounds for sure. Maybe a couple were even but he won. I was certain he had.

“I take my hat off to Choc. For him to have the guts and courage to even get into the ring with the weight disadvantage … I have changed my opinion of him.”

Barry Michael, another Australian boxer, wasn’t impressed with the outcome of the hyped superfight, either, slamming the result immediately after Green was crowned the winner.

“I had Choc winning quite comfortably, to be honest,” he said. “Danny was hurt badly in the first round — it was a cheap shot, basically and Mundine lost a point for it and Greeny fought back valiantly.

“But sitting here, (Green) wasn’t landing clean shots, he was throwing punches that were hitting the shoulder, whereas Mundine was constantly landing with the jab.

“I don’t see the decision was correct, I’m sorry.”

Daily Telegraph reporter Paul Kent was astonished with the result, sparing no time in crowning Mundine the winner after the match.

“Anthony Mundine won that fight, let’s be clear about that,” Kent said.

“Danny barely landed a clean blow the whole fight. He would go in behind a couple of ineffective jabs, throw a right hand and miss and then grab — that was essentially the fight.

“Then Mundine, after the foul, his whole body language changed. He suddenly got brave and started stalking. He was the one pushing the fight for the rest of the fight.

“Mundine knows he won the fight.”

Ring announcer Michael Buffer admitted he was surprised at Mundine’s loss.

“Without a doubt it was a close fight and maybe could’ve gone either way, I don’t know how other people scored it. But the one score of 98-90. I don’t know what he was looking at,” he said.

“It wasn’t a pretty fight, but it was a real fight.”

Tennis legend Roger Rasheed was even more angry with the result, backing Mundine for the win and calling the score “disgraceful”.

OUTRAGED FANS

Will we ever see Mundine v Green 3? Who knows.
Will we ever see Mundine v Green 3? Who knows.

Everyone had an opinion on Australia’s fight of the decade. Fans and journalists flooded Twitter with their take on the highly controversial finish, slamming the result and decrying the fight as a blow to boxing’s reputation.

Some fans were eagre for a “Mundine v Green 3” to settle the debate once and for all.

Fans on the sideline went ballistic for Green as he departed Adelaide Oval as the victor, claiming his long-awaited revenge over Australia’s most polarising sporting star.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/boxing/outrage-over-danny-green-vs-anthony-mundine-2-at-adelaide-oval/news-story/758789dc60f94278bce15049a64db3f7