Wednesday, Anthony "the man" Mundine announced to the world media, that he would once again step up to the plate and challenge the knockout puncher, Mikkel"the hitman" Kessler, for his newly won w.b.a. world title belt. the fight will be showcased in Sydney, at the entertainment centre, on the 11th of may. this is without doubt, Mundines toughest fight to date, but speaking to the media, Mundine was his usual confident self by saying " I fear no man, I only fear god, I want to prove everyone wrong, and I will, by beating him."

Mikkel Kessler started his career in 1998 fighting 6 and 8 rounders ,until 2000, when he was matched to fight the African legend Dingann " the Rose of Soweto" Thobela. in a tough fight, Kessler took everything that the experienced but slightly faded African could throw, and gave just a bit more in return, to win by a unanimous points decision. from there , he challenged all the top fighters in the division. with growing confidence, he hammered julio cesar green in one round and sent shivers around the divisions best fighters.

Meanwhile, across the world, the brash, motor mouthed Mundine was fighting guys like Gerard Zoes, Ian Mc leod, before stepping up to fight for the Australian title against Marc Bagero. Mundine was clearly too fast and so much of a skilled ring tactitioner for the experienced Bagero, that he actually humiliated him in front of his own people to win the Australian Title. this win gave him the chance to fight the German super middleweight king , Sven " the phantom" Ottke for his title.

After only 10 fights as a pro, Mundine travelled to Germany and challenged the skilled and experienced German for his title. this fight showed Mundine a couple of things, one , you have to do some serious sparring when you face a guy like Ottke, and two, you have to have the ring experience to fight someone like Ottke.

In the fight Mundine did extremely well, considering his inexperience , and at one point,in the 8th round, he actually looked like he hurt Ottke, but Ottke fought his usual brilliant style, held on and while not being a noted puncher, he knocked Mundine out cold in the 10th round. Back in Australia, as expected, it was all over the newspapers , and the doubters , doubted, and the slaggers, slagged, but "the man" pushed on and next up was Guy waters. This was a comeback fight he had to win, and on paper, he had no danger of not winning and winning well. waters had been a good boxer but he was rusty and overdone as a fighter and "the man" knocked him out in two rounds.

This confidence boosting fight set up a fight with Sam "King" Soliman. Soliman was a brilliant boxer with a slippery style that could have made Mundine look amateurish. the fight was staged in wollongong, just outside Sydney, and the fans turned out in the thousands, to see if Mundine could handle fighting another top ranked fighter. the fight went the distance and Mundine got the nod from the boxing officials by split decision. this was thought to be a highly controvercial decision from the fans and media at ringside, but this win put him back on track for another crack at the world crown. with wins over Rick Thornberry, and Sean Sullivan under his belt, fast forward to 2003. Mundine secured a title fight with the big punching boxer from the USA, Antwun Echols. Echols had been in with some big names and had fought the best in the middleweight division over the years. the fight was staged in Sydney, and another sellout crowd was in attendance again to see if" the man " could win the world title.

Mundine frustrated Echols from the opening bell and while not throwing too many punches that night, he threw a few more than the lethargic Echols to win the "interim" super middleweight world championship. Mundine was on top of the world, and had his sights set on the veteran Manny Siaca . This match up would determine who was to be the king of the w.b.a division and after a mediocre performance against the Japanese boxer Yoshinori Nishizawa, Mundine signed to fight the Puerto Rican, Siaca. Again, Mundine fought in Sydney and again they came in their thousands. Mundine was fighting an experienced campaigner in Siaca.

He had been there done that and when I interviewed him, he didnt have a care in the world. come fight night, I saw a different Siaca in the dressing room. he was mean, focused, and determined, and he fought his fight and never allowed Mundine to get near him. Mundine was tentative and again economical with his punches and at the end of the 12 rounds, Siaca won the world title by split decision. to be honest, Mundine just didnt do enough to take the title. after another fight, fighting Sean Sullivan, a fight in which he stopped Sullivan, Mundine had a bit of a break before fighting the unknown but rated fighter, Darmel Castillo and took him apart to stop him in 4 rounds in early 2005.

Mundine likes to make the headlines and he allways likes to "shock the world" Well, this time he has.

This fight with MikkelKessler could be a dangerous , career ending fight and not only that, this could seriously end all the media frenzied talk of him fighting danny green in what would be the richest fight in Australian boxing history. if Mundine loses badly [ ko'd] why would green want to fight him? Kessler could end those dreams and when I asked Mundine why he would take such a gamble and risk everything by fighting the dane. he replied " gary, no one thinks I can, im in the deep end again and I want to show everyone I can win, and beat this guy."

No doubt about it, Kessler can bang with the best of them as his 27 victims would tell you. he is young, hungry to win, and has been knocking on the door since the Thobela fight. he hammered the tough Andre Thysse over 11 rounds and when he finally got his chance against the come forward Siaca, he took it. He wasted the big punching nice guy from Puerto Rico and his strength showed greatly in his 8th round tko win to snatch Siaca's world title away after only 1 defence. no one had done this to Siaca , and certainly not Mundine, so it goes without saying, this guy Kessler is no Danish puff.