11/11/2015
- Charles Hatley 25-1-1 (17 ko's) v Anthony Mundine 47-6 (27 ko's)
- I've tipped 3 times on BK in fights involving Mundine. I'm currently 2/3. I've opposed him once, which was a winner. I'm about to oppose him again here against this tricky southpaw from America.
- Hatley was a successful amateur, amounting a record of 250-12. At one point he was one of the best prospects in the welterweight division. He won the 2007 U.S. National Amateur welterweight championship . His stock as a professional took a nosedive after he was stopped in 1 round by Lanardo Tyner. He was caught with a big shot early and never fully recovered. He was stopped on his feet. His chin may be a bit of a question mark, but then so is Mundine's.
- Hatley is 27 years old. Mundine is 40, but actually looks older these days. I'm banking on the youth and hunger of Hatley shining through here. He's a talented guy and could make Mundine miss quite a lot. He has speed, reflexes and good movement.
- Mundine is coming off the back of an impressive underdog split decision win against Sergey Rabchenko. Rab was 25-0 at the time, but had possibly fallen in love with his power a bit, assuming he would eventually stop his older foe, who had been battered all over the ring by Joshua Clottey in his previous fight.
- The reality is that Mundine is very hit and miss as a fighter. He may look good in certain fights, but he was dominated by Daniel Geale in 2013 on route to a UD loss. We've since seen Geale quit in his 2 fights with GGG and Cotto. Clottey also punished him for 12 rounds and Mundine again suffered a wide UD loss. Hatley will come to fight and leave everything in the ring. Win this and he propels himself into the limelight. Hatley has quite a bit of power. I could see him scoring a knockdown or bullying Mundine when they start to trade.
- I've read that Hatley has taken a 20 man entourage with him to Australia. Splashing out that type of money is always a sign of confidence in a fighter. He also said he's placing a hefty wager on himself to get the job done. It may be bravado, but his confidence is certainly there. He's a friend of Adrien Broner, so his influence has perhaps rubbed off on him.
- Will be interesting to see which way the odds go for this one, but I believe they will shrink as we near Wednesday