Why I’m Watching Mundine Geale

I’m not exactly a boxing fan. In fact I’ve never watched a full bout before in my life. The Fighter and Cinderella Man are a couple of my favourite movies, but that hardly counts.

Anthony Mundine is not somebody I have lot of time for. I appreciate how effective his shit stirring is at mass promoting his fights, but in my books its just so wrong. Whether he really means the things he says or not, its not fair that he can so publicly and widely spread his voice. No, Mundine can piss off into oblivion for all I care.

But after all it appears I have been sucked in like everyone else, he’s trapped me, made me want to see him hurt and therefore I’ll be watching the fight – exactly what he wants. However, this is not the case. My desire to watch a full boxing match for the first time stems from the other man in the ring.

I’ve always kept an ear out for Daniel Geale. Word on the street was he fights were bigger than anything Mundine had ever done. And he was winning them. Fights in Germany by a points decision, the experts were saying it was a ridiculously good achievement. Yet he was never in the headlines, his victories were more just mentioned in passing in the media.

One thing that Mundine’s antics have promoted to me is his opponent. His quiet and modest temperament and demeanour. It is a personality like Geale’s that is so refreshing to see not just in boxing but in any sport. He just seems like a nice, likeable bloke. He is the sort of guy that our nation loves to get behind and thanks to Mundine they now will.

Geale is the reason I will be watching tonight and he will win well. I look forward to seeing where he can go from here. Australia should really get behind this bloke – most people can’t stand what Mundine carries on about, so let’s forget about him after tonight and focus our viewing on Geale.