Anthony Mundine v Shane Mosley: Training Camp report
By Gary Todd
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 21 Oct 2013
With less than a week to go before one of the biggest fights in recent years in Australia, I have been following the fighters as they have prepared for battle in Sydney, on the 23rd of October
I arrived at Mundine?s gym in Redfern, just in time to watch him warm up for sparring , which was scheduled to be 10 rounds.
Mundine?s people had made a great choice in bringing over David Estrada from Chicago, to help him prepare for Mosley. This was to be Mundine?s final sparring before the tapering off stage of his training camp so I had high hopes for this to be very intense encounter.
It was clear very early on that Estrada was here to work and push Mundine as hard as he could, and with comments like, ?I can be better than this mother fucker? as he put in his mouth guard, I knew he wasn?t here for a holiday.
Mundine looked very focused and oblivious to everyone else in the gym, which was as it should be, and as Tony Mundine called for ?time?, it was on from the first round.
Estrada stalked Mundine, and was constantly trying to catch Mundine on the ropes, and at one point, Estrada, hammered home a flurry of head and body shots, which attacked the senses of all at ringside, signaling a response from people to shout ? get off the ropes choc? At that point, Anthony shouted, ? I want to be here? then he came back with a 6 punch combination to rattle the man from Chicago. It was a great moment .
I had watched these two fighters spar before, earlier on in camp, but today, Mundine looked stronger, faster, and controlled the proceedings until the 10 rounds were done.
I congratulated Estrada on his performance and asked him if he thought Mundine was up for Mosley, and this is what he said.
?That mother fucker was strong today. when we sparred last time, I felt we were close, but today he stepped it up, and that?s why he is a world champ. I?ll be back after this experience.?
I have been in the gym with Mundine through the years, and I feel this time was the most intense I have seen him. He is peaking. He is as ready as he is going to be.
I had seen a good snap shot of Mundine , so now I had to try and get close to Mosley?s camp.
Through the years, I have been lucky enough to be invited into some of the greatest fighters ever, but for some reason, I always hit a problem with Mosley. I had traveled to big bear to see him train, to be then told that I had to leave whenever Shane was sparring. I had interviewed him, had a laugh with him then mid interview, he said ?I don?t want to answer any more questions about training.?
Keeping this in mind, I had my doubts on whether I would finally see him in sparring. I arrived at the city gym early, and I was surprised that Mosley was going to be training there. This gym was a corporate type gym with few facilities due to the size of it, and all I could imagine was middle aged executives, or office workers who liked the idea of punching heavy bags as well as punching numbers on their laptops. It was far removed from where Mosley was accustomed to.
As I waited down the bottom of the back street entry of the gym, I saw a big black people mover pull in, and I knew it was Mosley and his team.
Mosley walked in front, and as he approached me, he held out an extended arm, and smiled as we touched knuckles, to say hello.
Sam Soliman was already getting his hand wraps on and getting ready to spar with Mosley, and this was to be their final sparring session in preparation for Mundine. Sergio ?The Latin Snake? was meant to be coming by later. [ didn?t know if he was sharing the eight rounds with Soliman ]
I had known Soliman for years from my days at Tszyu?s gym, and it was good to see him again. He was a gentleman then, and nothing has changed.
Mosley jumped straight in the ring with his son and did a few rounds of shadow boxing, while Soliman banged the heavy bag for 3 rounds.
Soliman asked Mosley?s father and trainer, Jack ?is the bell buzzer working, fuck that was a long round,? then he laughed.
That signaled for the sparring to begin.
As I watched, I thought, Mosley will be lucky to make 154lbs. compared to Mundine, he looks like a welterweight. For me, Mosley looked in tremendous shape, but he also seemed a lot slower than I had seen him, but in saying that, he was catching Soliman with big right hands. He was head hunting early. Soliman was as awkward as ever, and as always, he did what he does best, which is to frustrate anyone in front of him.
Just as Mosley caught Sam with a big right hand, that caught him square on, he would feint, bend his body down then pounce up with a big cheeky grin , to end the round.
It was the fourth round, and I was looking forward to see how Mosley?s legs were, after chasing Soliman around, but once again, I was asked to leave.
It was a shame, but its the way it was. I waved cheerio, and I was gone.
As I walked up that dark alley, I could only imagine what was unfolding inside. Questions, and answers were going through my mind. Doubts, realizations, what ifs?
Whatever happened in those last four rounds, I?ll never know, but I could only think that Mosley would surely have moved up a gear to finish strong.
I waited a few minutes on the street to see if Sergio Mora turned up to spar Mosley, but he didn?t.
It?s now 3 days to the weigh in. Both fighters have done the work to be ready for arguably, their most crucial fight of their career. Mundine will be taking off a couple of pounds, and Mosley will be close to where he wants to be. Both will be doing light work outs with a bit of pad work, and road work. The work is done. Fight week can be a pain. All they want to do now is get it on.
Whoever loses on the night, will be hanging the gloves up. The winner will catapult themselves into big money fights with the stars of the 154lb division.
Gary Todd is the international best selling author with his books on World champions, ?Workouts from boxings greatest champs? volumes 1 and 2. He has been involved in all aspects of the sport of boxing for over 25 years.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Gary Todd.
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