Anthony Mundine

You can’t believe Anthony Mundine is whingeing that he was robbed. You just can’t believe it. That said, it’s Anthony Mundine we’re talking about here, so actually, who’s surprised?

Daniel Geale failed to land a knockout blow last night but he was clearly the better fighter. A bit quicker, a bit smarter, a bit more resilient and as ever, a whole lot more humble.

As a sportsman, Mundine is no longer relevant. He was world class in his day but like Ricky Ponting, he is now in his late 30s and clearly past his prime. Maybe he’ll fight on, may be he won’t. The real question now is whether he is still relevant as a public figure.

Continue reading "It’s time for Mundine to act like a man, not The Man" »

Racism is particularly horrendous and shocking when it comes from within.

You’d put Anthony Mundine’s questioning of Daniel Geale’s Aboriginality down to some weird sort of self loathing if you thought there was a speck of self awareness about the man.

Geale is an Aboriginal boxer from Tassie, and Mundine’s opponent. Mundine, in a trash talking barrage, said Geale didn’t deserve to sport an Aboriginal flag, that there ought to be some sort of “cut off” for Aboriginal people after which they’re presumably declared white, and said:

Continue reading "What do you do about an Aboriginal racist?" »

Here’s the thing about men and pedicures. Actually scrap that, here’s the thing about men and massages, moisturiser, Pilates and yoga classes and manscaping, it’s all totally fine. In fact, it should be encouraged.

It doesn’t mean you’re a lay-about with too much time on your hands, it just means you care about your appearance. Plus, it feels great.

Continue reading "Blokes, don’t be afraid of a bit of man grooming" »

The world’s unlikeliest cricket club touched down in Australia yesterday. And boy, do they have a timely reminder for us all.

The Compton Cricket Club is a group of reformed gangsters from the infamous violent South Central Los Angeles neighbourhood. I wrote about these guys for The Punch last September when four of them made a flying visit out here to raise awareness and funds for the current tour. Mission accomplished.

Self-described “ambassadors of peace and goodwill”, the Compton cricketers long ago turned their back on the wildly egotistical, chest-beating American sports culture which has rapidly become inseparable from the wildly egotistical, chest-beating global sports culture.

Continue reading "Bravado and “me, me, me” are destroying modern sport" »

Is it cos he is black? Is it cos he is Muslim? Is it cos he is free?

You suspect Anthony Mundine would like to believe his immense unpopularity in this country is attributable to redneck prejudice against all these things, but the truth is simpler.

We can’t cop Mundine because he isn’t what he says he is – a world champion. Not even close. In the alphabet soup of boxing, he has latched on to obscure titles simply because other, better fighters simply didn’t know (or care) they existed. Claiming them as world titles is like getting into law at Bond University and telling everyone you graduated from Harvard.

Continue reading "The real reason we can’t cop Anthony Mundine" »