IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green (28-3, 25KO’s) is in the final stages of his training camp in Sydney for his upcoming title defence on April 14th. He takes on Manny Siaca (22-6, 19KO’s) from Puerto Rico in a bout that is sold out at the Challenge Stadium in Green’s hometown of Perth, Western Australia. This is a “homecoming” fight for the popular Australian who is a three weight world champion having previously won the WBA light-heavyweight and interim WBC 168 pound titles. The 5,500 capacity crowd was sold out in just two hours in his hometown city when tickets went on sale last month.
The 37 year old “Green Machine” comes off his most impressive win to date when he stopped future Hall of Famer Roy Jones Junior in 122 seconds in December which shocked the boxing world. After possible fights against Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver fell through he turned his attention to a lucrative potential rematch with two time WBA super-middleweight champion Anthony Mundine.
Siaca holds a win over Mundine when he outpointed him for the WBA 168 pound title in May 2004 and Green is hoping an impressive win will “smoke” out the fellow Australian and ink a rematch. Their first fight in 2006 drew a live gate of over 30,000 and was the richest fight in Australian boxing history generating an estimated $8m.
In the background to Green’s preparation is the upcoming rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Junior this weekend in Las Vegas– a match up that Green feels lacks boxing credibility because of his personal 122 second destruction of Jones Jr at the Acer Arena last December. Danny spoke to Fightnews today from his camp in Sydney. Danny, what are your thoughts on the upcoming fight between Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins this weekend?
Why are you so upset about the way Roy Jones Jr dealt with the defeat after that fight?
I thought that Roy Jones was just a bad loser and tried to take away my moment of glory by accusing me of cheating with my hand wraps. All the investigations exonerated me and everything was in order but the Jones camp tried to dishonour my win by accusation after accusation – all of which had no facts behind them. The bottom line was I knocked him out fair and square. He first said the referee stopped it too early but if you watch the replay he took 46 unanswered punches without throwing anything back – Is that too early ? He complained about the gloves which everyone needs to know he supplied himself. Now how can that be my fault ?
What about the issue of the hand wraps?
Again – excuses. These hand wraps were the same ones I used in five previous world title fights all over the world. I used them against Marcus Beyer in Germany, Eric Lucas in Canada and also in Mississippi when I won the IBO title. All were happy then and on December 2nd they were inspected by the NSW Combat Sports Commission – 3 independent people gave them the all clear. I think when Team Jones realised the magnitude of the loss in financial terms with a Hopkins re-match pencilled in the calendar and rushed to discredit my result and try and rescue the situation from a financial perspective. It wasn’t about boxing – he lost fair and square.
How close are you to a rematch with Anthony Mundine?
Mundine gives me a good payday but won’t really cement my legacy in the support. What people must remember is that he called me out of retirement for a rematch. I came out of retirement and accepted his challenge and he then runs off to the hills. I recently called his bluff again and challenged him to the rematch but he has gone into hiding and obviously is not man enough to accept my challenge and the multi-million dollar pay day it will bring him. I don’t need Mundine and if the answer is no then we will move on and I will go in a different direction. This silence cannot go on – Mundine must either decline or accept my offer. The clock is ticking and we will soon move on to pastures new and bring more big fights to Australia.
Would you like to fight the winner of the Jones-Hopkins rematch?
I would like to fight Hopkins as he is a respected fighter all over the world and a match in Australia would be another big fight and a big payday for Hopkins. If Jones Jr was to win then we would have to see. I do have a sour taste in my mouth after the last fight and after knocking him out so dominantly I don’t really think I have anything to prove.
How is training going for the Manny Siaca fight?
I just completed an open training session today and in my camp I have been in the best shape of my life. I have broken three noses in sparring and Angelo Hyder has built me up into great shape. I cannot wait to get back in the ring and knock Siaca out. Siaca dropped Mundine to the canvas and beat him on points and my job is to send a message to Mundine – I will knock him out.
How excited are you to be back in Perth for this fight?
After my win over Roy Jones in Sydney at the Acer Arena it was so good to be able to come back to see my hometown fans. They have supported me all the way in my journey and it is great to put some back and give them a good night. Amazingly all 5,500 tickets sold out in just two hours which gives me a fantastic lift to see than the people of Perth are still 100% behind me. I will put on a top performance for all my fans on April 14th.
* * *
Danny Green’s IBO title defence against Siaca will be shown in Australia on Main Events PPV on April 14th.
Source: fightnews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment