By Ian S Palmer
Australians Daniel Geale and Anthony Mundine will meet in Sydney at the Entertainment Centre on Jan. 30 in their much anticipated rematch. Their first bout, which took place in May of 2009 resulted in a close and controversial split decision win for Mundine and he took Geale’s IBO belt with the victory. Geale. This is now a must-win bout for both boxers in their homeland if they want to leave a legacy behind. The contest will be for Geale’s IBF World Middleweight Championship.
Geale, who was the WBA titleholder, unified the belts by earning a split decision victory against German Felix Sturm last September. He was hoping to meet the winner of the WBC title fight between champion Sergio Martinez of Argentina and Mexico’s Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but Martinez won a unanimous decision and it looks like he may meet Chavez in a rematch. In the meantime, the WBA stripped Geale of his title for choosing to take on Mundine instead of interim titleholder Gennady Golovkin, who is now the WBA champ.
However, fans are hoping this rematch is as good as the first outing in which Mundine and Geale put on an exciting 12 rounder in Brisbane. Mundine dropped Geale in the second round and that went a long way in securing the decision. That’s the only loss on Geale’s pro record and he’s hoping to exact revenge in Sydney on the 30th. The first bout was a classic and very hard to score, so the knockdown basically made the difference.
Mundine has a fine record of 44-4 with 26 Kos while the 31-year-old Geale’s stands at 28-1 with 15 Kos. Things will be just as difficult for Mundine this time around as he’s 37 years old now and Geale has gained a lot of experience and holds two title belts. Geale has beaten some good opponents since his first meeting with Mundine such as Sebastian Sylvester, Roman Karmazin, and Sturm. He won the IBF title against Sylvester and then added Sturm’s WBA version to his collection. Many fans view him as the second best middleweight in the world behind WBC champ Martinez.
However, Geale is relatively unknown in America and many other parts of the world and he realizes a bout with Martinez will change this. A loss to Mundine, who is a former three-time world champion, will definitely derail these plans. Mundine has good speed even at his advanced age and is also defensively sound. But Mundine hasn’t fought any top opponents in the last three years and this will likely hurt him. In fact, if he didn’t beat Geale the first time around it’s very doubtful that he’d be getting a title shot against him now at this stage of his career.
Prediction
Both Geale and Mundine claimed victory in their first meeting, but of course, Mundine was the official winner. Geale sees this as a chance to prove he’s the better boxer and this is Mundine’s last crack at a world title. This means both men will be highly motivated and it should be an interesting and action-packed fight. Neither of them possess one-punk knockout power, but Mundine does have the edge in the power department. Geale needs to stay on his feet in all 12 rounds and outbox Mundine to retain his title as it’s doubtful he’ll be able to stop him. And that’s what I see happening.
