ANTHONY MUNDINE will seek to avenge his shock defeat to Garth Wood last December in a rematch at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on April 13.
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That loss had him slip from the World Boxing Association's No.2 ranked junior-middleweight contender to No.9. The pair will announce details of the fight at a news conference today, where Mundine is expected to face questioning about whether his career is on the line if beaten again by the former South Sydney fullback who earned his shot against the three-time world champion by winning The Contender reality television boxing series.
The fifth-round knockout has cost Mundine a potential world title bout, while elevating Wood into ninth position in the WBA's middleweight rankings. Before his December 8 bout with Mundine, which was fought at middleweight, Wood was not ranked in the top 15 by the main boxing organisations in any division.
Mundine, who had moved to junior-middleweight following last January's win over Robert Medley, was ranked the No.2 contender after wins over Carlos Adan Jerez and Ryan Waters. Had he beaten Wood, the 35-year-old former NRL star was set to bring WBA junior-middleweight champion Rigoberto Alvarez to Australia early this year.
He then planned to head to the US with a world title and train under the legendary Angelo Dundee, who was in Muhammad Ali's corner for all but two of his 61 fights. Dundee, who Mundine knows through Russell Crowe, also trained Sugar Ray Leonard, among others.
However, Mundine's loss to Wood enabled the WBA's No.1 contender, Austin Trout, to challenge Alvarez and the American won a unanimous points decision in Mexico on February 5.
Mundine will be keen to fight Trout but he must first overcome Wood, who shocked the boxing world when he knocked The Man to the canvas in the fifth round of their bout at Acer Arena.
