Daniel Geale vs Anthony Mundine Preview Jan. 30
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. 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 former WBA titleholder, unified the belts by earning a split decision victory against former IBF champ Felix Sturm of Germany last September. He was then 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.
Fans are hoping this rematch is as good as the first outing in which Mundine and Geale put on an exciting 12 round show 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 3oth. The first bout was a classic and very hard to score with the knockdown basically making 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 in the past three years. Geale has beaten some good opponents since the 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.
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However, Geale is relatively unknown in America and many other parts of the world and 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 he hasn’t fought any top opponents in the last three years. 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-punch knockout power, but Mundine does have the heavier punch. 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.
Odds
Sportsbook 5dimes.eu has the latest odds of a Geale win at -440 and a Mundine victory at +350. Visit 5Dimes.eu to see up to date odds and to bet on this fight. You should also check out our recent boxing betting predictions to see how we’ve done of late capping the fights.
Anthony Mundine betting • Daniel Geale betting