Superstar sons set to reignite Green-Mundine rivalry, 20 years after first fight stopped the nation

The most spiteful rivalry in Australian boxing history is set to be revived nearly 20 years after the first Danny Green-Anthony Mundine fight – with their superstar sons reigniting the feud.

Two decades after Danny Green and Anthony Mundine’s spiteful first fight stopped the nation, we could be set for a third instalment of the most heated rivalry in Australian boxing history.

This time though, it’s their sons, Archie Green and CJ Mundine who have been tipped to meet in the ring.

CJ, 23, had his professional debut in 2022, while Archie is a rising talent under the careful tutelage of his old man.

“He’s already eyeing up CJ,” Danny told Code Sports of 17-year-old Archie.

“I commentated CJ’s first professional bout, and he performed really well – I was impressed.

“I wasn’t surprised, because it’s Choc’s son. He’s athletic, he has the genetics and he’s gifted.

CJ Mundine (R), the son of Anthony Mundine, could one day fight the son of Danny Green. Picture: Supplied

“Choc saw Archie walk past and said, ‘Archie, my boy’s gonna flog ya’.

“Archie just smiled, he’s a pretty cool kid.

“I said, ‘Choc, how many boys have you got?’

“He said, “Three’, and I just said, ‘Line em up’.”

Mundine doesn’t remember that particular interaction, but told Code Sports, “Yeah, that sounds like me.

“The legacy of that rivalry is in history now, and the boys, when they start fighting, they’ll be on a collision course.

“It’ll have to happen.”

Archie (R) sparring as he pushes his old man to let him kick off his boxing career. Picture: Supplied

Archie, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Danny Green in Perth last year. Picture: Supplied

There were talks of the sons fighting in 2026 on the 20 year anniversary of the first Green Machine vs Choc showdown, but Archie still hasn’t had his first amateur bout yet.

“I think it’s inevitable,” Green said. “Archie’s gotta start, but I think both boys will angle towards a fight in the future.

“It makes sense. They want to carry on the legacy.

“I know my son does. He says, ‘Dad, I wanna smash him’.”

Mundine has only seen short clips of Archie training on Danny’s social media, but predicts a big future for him.

“He’s sharp, he’s a carbon copy of Danny,” he said. “He’s still got some growth to do, but he’ll get stronger and bigger.

“There’s a lot of similarities between them.”

Mundine scored a unanimous decision win in their first fight at the Sydney Football Stadium in 2006 in a bout that still holds domestic pay-per-view records.

After a few false starts and a lot of bad blood, they finally met a second time in 2017, with Green claiming a majority decision victory in the last fight of his career.

“I always wanted that third fight, but Danny never wanted it,” said Mundine, who fought an exhibition bout in March. “It’s 1-1, let’s settle the score.

“But he never wanted it, so I suppose it’s onto the next generation.

“I don’t know what was holding him back, maybe fear.

“I really feel that if we fought again at cruiserweight, I feel I would’ve been able to stop him.”

Green won their rematch in 2017. Picture: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images

Ahead of their first fight, the tension between them was so fierce that they didn’t come face-to-face until they stepped into the ring.

“It was pretty bad, there was a fair dinkum animosity between us,” Mundine said. “He thought he was better, I thought I was better.

“He thought I was an arrogant prick, I thought he was an arrogant prick.

“We were at each other’s throats for years, but now we’re retired, there’s a mutual respect.”

They’ve cooled off now, but Green says the rivalry will never completely go away.

“We’re both older, and with time you mellow – it is what it is,” he said. “He had a fantastic career, and I did what I did.

“I respect the bloke immensely for what he did in rugby league and boxing.

“He’s the best crossover athlete I think the country’s ever had.

“I have a lot of respect for the man, but the animosity and rivalry we shared for so long, and the reason it was so big in this country, was because it was real.

“That’ll be there until the day we die.”