By Mark Vester
WBA "regular" super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (30-3, 23KOs) confirmed to the AAP that Australian veteran Nader Hamdan (40-5, 18KOs) will be his next opponent in February. The bout will take place on February 27 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.
As reported last week, Mundine has avoided a fight with Hamdan over the year, worried that a fight with another popular Muslim fighter would dividie his following and cause a rift in the Islamic community of Australia. In the end, Mundine wanted to give his Muslim brother a shot at the title, something Hamdan has never had in his entire ten-year career. The two fighters also grew up together in Sydney's inner-west community of Marrickville, and have known each other since they were 15-years-old.
Mundine will use Hamdan as a tuneup before moving up in weight to challenge WBA light heavyweight champion Danny Green in a very anticipated rematch.
"I wouldn't take a fight if I thought Hamdan was going to be another easy opponent," Mundine said. "He's fought the best and beat the best in Australia. He's going to try and take my head off and I'm going to be the same. This is why I'm the champion - you don't duck, you don't dodge anybody. I'm probably the most competitive person in the world."
"Pretty much I said to him, `we're too close, we're brothers, we're Muslim brothers'," he said.We've got pretty much the same brotherhood, as far as Muslim brothers and the same sort of friends, so I thought that would be a little bit complicated. A lot of fighters wouldn't give him a chance to make some bread, to make some money. So I really thought about it. When I'm 45 and I'm retired I can't say that I didn't give the brother a chance. I know it's going to be a hard challenge but that's what Anthony Mundine is the champion for."
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