By Mark Vester

The war or words continue between Anthony Mundine and trainer/former champion Jeff Fenech. The rift began after Mundine called the June 24 trilogy bout between Fenech, 43, and Azumah Nelson, 49, "a battle of the jurassics." Fenech went on the attack and said his trilogy bout held more credibility than Mundine's third meeting with Sam Soliman on May 28. Fenech called the Mundine-Soliman trilogy "a farce" to boxing and told fans to avoid supporting the fight.

The comments by Fenech struck a nerve with Mundine, who fired off like a madman when speaking with the Herald Sun. Not only did Mundine sound off, he dared Fenech to move up to middleweight for a fight.

"The only foregone conclusion here is that Jeff Fenech will again be exposed as a nobody by Azumah Nelson," Mundine said. "He's a nobody. All he ever had going for him was grit and determination. He never had boxing ability. I'd have beaten him in his heyday and I'd whip him now if he ever wanted to meet me at middleweight. It would be a real pleasure. It's pitiful that he should be fighting again after nearly 12 years out of the ring."

Mundine says that every one of his wins is a mismatch because his skills are beyond those of his opponents. He then made one of his usual controversial comments by stating that he will not allow himself to lose to a fighter who follows the Christian belief.

"Every fight I have is a mismatch. I'm just giving Soliman a chance because every fighter has an ego and pride. But he will need a miracle to beat me. It was stopped in nine rounds last year and he'll be lucky to last that long again. He said he had problems before fighting me then - the biggest problem was having me in the other corner.

"I'm a Muslim and I can't allow myself to lose to a Christian. My people are persecuted all over the world and they need inspirational figures like myself, Zinedine Zidane in soccer and also fellow fighters like Sugar Shane Moseley to look up to. People can say what they like about me and my beliefs. I don't give a damn. The only entity I answer to is Allah."

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingscene@hotmail.com