I'll Finish Mundine: Siaca

[pies4ever]

I'll finish Mundine: Siaca
FoxSports
By Grantlee Kieza
April 30, 2004

MANNY SIACA was resting at his plush harbourside hotel yesterday afternoon not sure whether he would be fighting Anthony Mundine next week or next month. But absolutely certain he'd win whenever it was.

"Mundine is a good fighter," Siaca said. "He is fast and he throws quick, sneaky punches.

"But he is more of a runner than a fighter and there's an old saying, 'You can run but you can't hide'.

"I've seen him fight twice - against Sven Ottke and Antwun Echols. Ottke knocked him cold and Ottke can't punch and I don't know what was wrong with Echols but he didn't look in good shape when Mundine beat him. I've come out to Australia to win and to punch Mundine all the way back to rugby [league]."

Last night Mundine confirmed the fight would go ahead next Wednesday at the Sydney Entertainment Centre despite the ankle injury he suffered sparring last Monday.

It is a brave move from a fighter full of confidence.

Mundine has long been criticised for dredging opponents out of boxing's recycle bin. But there can be no criticism of Siaca's credentials.

Trained by his dad, one of the best trainers in Puerto Rico, Siaca is bigger than Mundine, younger (by six months), has a better knockout ratio and has, on average, fought a higher calibre of opposition. He also has a reputation for rough stuff.

He mightn't be as quick as The Man (who is) but he has genuine power and proven toughness.

Yesterday the 185cm slugger was in a feisty mood waiting around to punch someone. "It's been frustrating not knowing that the fight was definitely on," said Siaca, who was schooled in English at the American Military Academy in Puerto Rico and schooled in boxing at his father's gym there.

He has already had three world title shots and could be considered unlucky not to win all three.

"In two of them the judges ripped me off," Siaca said. "I fought Bruno Girard for the WBA title in France in 2000 and he got the decision. I appealed and a panel of 32 judges ordered a rematch.

"But Girard wouldn't fight me again and they stripped him of the title."

Siaca was matched with American Byron Mitchell for the vacant title in Las Vegas and was ahead on points going into the last round when Mitchell decked him near the end of the fight.

Siaca stayed down to clear his head and got up just as referee Jay Nady counted 10, declaring the Puerto Rican had failed to beat the count.

In a rematch held at New York's Madison Square Garden, Siaca recovered from an early pounding to deck Mitchell with 55 seconds left. One judge gave it to Siaca 115-112 but the other two favoured Mitchell 114-112.

"I've learned not to leave it to the judges," said Siaca, who has 16 KOs in 17 wins. "I don't think Mundine is as good a fighter as Byron Mitchell. He might be faster but Byron is stronger and a better puncher and I had Byron beat in both our fights. I thought Mundine got a lot of help from the referee when he beat Echols.

"He was allowed to run and hold on whenever Echols got close. But I have a strategy to stop him running.

"I've been working on improving my speed in the gym in Puerto Rico and I'm here to win. If I don't knock him out, I'll still beat him so bad he won't fight again."

Siaca said his father, Manny Siaca Sr, had trained 22 world champs, including some of Puerto Rico's finest - Edwin Rosario, Juan Nazario, Wilfredo Vasquez and Nelson Dieppa and fully expected to make it No.23 against Mundine.

In his last fight, last September, Siaca knocked out dangerous American Demetrius Jenkins, who stopped Australian Pierre Karam in Detroit in 2000.

TV: Main Event, Wednesday, 7pm

The Daily Telegraph

[pies4ever]

Mundine says he's fit to fight
FoxSports
April 29, 2004

ANTHONY MUNDINE believes he will overcome an ankle injury but may not be 100 per cent fit when he puts his WBA super middleweight world championship on the line next Wednesday.

There were concerns Mundine would not be able to take on the WBA No.1 challenger, Puerto Rican Manny Siaca, after the training injury on Monday night.

But Mundine's manager Khoder Nasser said the champion resumed running this morning and did some pad work with his father and trainer Tony last night.

They were planning to fight next week – barring any further mishap.

Dr Martin Raftery, who on Tuesday diagnosed Mundine with a grade two ligament sprain, said the champion might be able to fight next Wednesday, but would have to weigh up the risks as the ligament would not be fully healed.

"He would tape his ankle, that's fine, but he will still run the risk. If the ankle does go and he goes down, you can't call for a substitute, you've got to realise what the risks are," Dr Raftery said tonight.

While Dr Raftery said Mundine was making a remarkable recovery, he reiterated his initial opinion that it would take the injured ligament four to six weeks to fully tighten.

"We can get rid of the inflammation and the bleeding that has occurred as a result of the injury, but we can't do anything about making that ligament tight again in the time frame," Dr Raftery said.

He stressed the demands on Mundine's ankle during the fight would be different from what he would experience going for a run.

"He can run in one direction, but he's not changing direction. You've got to go in probably six different directions, sometimes at the one time, forwards, backwards, sidewards, diagonally......."

Siaca trained today at Kostya Tszyu's gym, maintaining his silence on the injury speculation.

AAP

[Birdy]

If Mundine's injury is as bad as it sounds then I think he'll go down in this one. His biggest strength is his speed so I think it's going to hurt him big time.

Having had a lot of ankle injuries myself I think he's mad for not postponing the fight, but then again mine were all pretty bad ones.

Although I've never really been a big fan of Mundine due to his big mouth, I haven't heard too much of it lately so maybe he's finally learnt to be more humble.

I'm still hoping he wins this fight though cause he's an aussie all the same and I want to see him fight Danny Green which would be huge.