The Man ??

[Blanch]

Do tell Assassin. I'd read he was fighting the equivalent of an old man never has been but was it all over really quick was it?

[commonwombat]

Coming from Sydney, one has had the misfortune of more exposure to "the human headline" than most of you.

There is one guaranteed strategy to deal with him; ignore anything remotely concerning him. A strategy that I wish all media outlets and sporting bodies would pursue.

[Yobbo^LuKa]

Hes an idiot and when Danny Green bashes the crap through him at the end of the year, the True Aussie Champion will be made clear to everyone. Danny Green is the MAN, Mundine is a lil kid.

[Blanch]

Mundine is better than most think. He's smarter than most think. I'm a huge Danny Green fan but does he get foxtel's $300k per fight to fight mugs? Mundine says what he needs to in order to cause a stir....that brings attention....attention brings money and people on seats. We talk about him a lot. We all know who he is. IMO Green is by far the best fighter in the division in the world but we talk so much less about him than Mundine.

Mundine deliberately gets under people's skin. His publicity skills are second to NONE.

[commonwombat]

Blanch,

Living in WA as you do, I am unsure as to how aware of Mundine's background in Rugby League that you may be. To understand Mundine the boxer, you have to understand his previous career.


Essentially he talked himself out of a career in this football code. He is undoubtedly an extraordinarily gifted athlete and he he was a brilliant individual. However his mentality cost him dearly.

At the start of his career, he walked out of the St George club to play with the successful Brisbane Broncoes. This turned sour when he found that he was not, to start with, playing in his favoured position.

The realisation that he was a new boy on the block and having to serve an apprenticeship was and still is alien to his comprehension. The player(s) he was being groomed to replace were an intl combination. Statements like "they didn't treat me like royalty" did bring the matter of his ego and mentality into public question.

He returned to his old club where they had mixed success. He showed himself to be a showy and brilliant player but questions always remained over his team focus.

In a key position, his defence was shaky at best. He was always in the media trumpeting his case saying how he whipped a big name rival's backside. He may have had a showy game but quite frequently his team lost the match.

At State of Origin (rep) time he was sometimes picked on the bench as an impact player. His bad mouthing of other players and coaches did not help his case. He failed to make intl teams and played the race card; ie he missed out because he was Aboriginal.

This did not go down well. RL has a more than acceptable record re Aboriginals in the game at all levels. There were other Aboriginal players at the time who missed out, with frankly better cases for selection who did not choose to mimic Mundine.

He was on the receiving end of racist sledging on the field and was justified in complaining. His showboating on field did sometimes bite him on the arse.

He ended up a media go-to man, a Mr Renta-quote and this ended up burning most of his remaining bridges with officials, team-mates and erstwhile supporters. Like the boy who cried wolf, those times that he has something worthwhile to say had been drowned out by the torrent of self aggrandisment.

Rather than his publicity skills being second to none, I would classify them as being extraordinarily counterproductive. There is much that is admirable about Anthony Mundine as an athlete and as a human being so it is tragic to see him burn every bridge he crosses.

[piedys]

Wombat, so do i add you to the list of people who want him to lose or what?

Dyso

[couragous cloke]

Go the Man! knock that other wanker out cold..

[commonwombat]

Dyso,

I do so wish that I could care about what happens to Anthony Mundine but sadly I cannot.

I therefore wish him whatever luck he may require in whatever future that he may inflict upon this world.

Ergo, I am supremely indifferent as to what goes on with his career(s).

[Blanch]

Thanks wombat. I had a reasonable account of his latter days of rugby but not his earlier days so you've filled in quite a few gaps.

I'm not saying he's the sharpest tool in the shed....merely suggesting his persona he puts forward is a lucrative one and that shows smarts. He fights duds for big cash. Please tell me who else does this with such ease? Who else gets big publicity for fighting a nobody?

I may have not worded my previous post in the best possible manner. What I meant to say is that he knows how to handle the media to best support his bank account. Those skills are second to NONE. If you don't agree I await your answers of the questions I posed above.

Fighting nobodys + big publicity + big cash = some sort of brains.