Anthony Mundine’s Team responds to Team Andrade claims that Mundine has reneged on a deal to fight Demetrius Andrade:
We’d like to clarify the misinformation released by Team Andrade regarding negotiations of a potential WBO Junior Middleweight World Title fight between Demetrius Andrade and Anthony Mundine.
Statements made by Team Andrade are inaccurate. The original author, as well as many subsequent articles published since, have all failed to contact us to obtain Mundine’s side of the story.
We have never said we have accepted the terms given to us by Andrade’s team.
Team Andrade may have accepted the terms of Mundine’s promoter to fight in Melbourne Australia, but the terms given to Mundine by Andrade’s promoter have not been agreed. We are unsure what Team Andrade want to achieve from their claims, however, we are disappointed their one-sided portrayal of the situation has positioned Anthony in the wrong way. We have given some time for Team Andrade to clarify the media statement as we feel a professional approach in our negotiations is always preferred. Especially when they were in progress.
Anthony has a strategy and a plan to achieve his goals. He has been a loyal WBA ambassador for many years and since winning the WBC Jnr Middleweight Silver title he intends on fulfilling his obligations as a WBC Champion. He plans on continuing his dedication to his plan by defending his WBC belt and challenging the title holders and ranked fighters above him. The opportunity to fight Andrade for the WBO World Title was not on the radar until recently. He is not even ranked with the WBO.
Strategy starts at the top by calling out Floyd Mayweather Jr to fight Mundine or vacate the WBC 154 Championship title. Mundine has dedicated himself to winning this title and fulfilling his responsibilities to the WBC as a good Ambassador and Champion. Once this has been achieved, he will attempt to challenge Erislandy Lara for the WBA World Title and continue his loyalty and unify the two belts.
Fighting for the WBO World Title and being locked into options for three fights with below average financial benefit affects Mundine’s current strategy. Therefore it requires careful consideration. Mundine wants a fight-by-fight deal. It’s good for Boxing, the fans and Mundine given the stage of his career.
Securing the big-name fights are always a challenge. Availability of opponents willing to fight Mundine, timing and contractual items need to be aligned for all parties. We are doing our very best to negotiate a fair outcome for Mundine in a professional manner.
Claims from Team Andrade stating “Anthony Mundine’s team had one of those careful-what-you-wish-for moments”, is simply untrue.
The simple facts remain – we haven’t accepted the terms (options) given by Team Andrade which lock Mundine into three fights and low dollars. We realise they value their Championship belt. They want ensure they have every chance of keeping it in their stable. Anthony’s WBC Silver Title and the position it provides him also has great value, therefore, the deal has to be fair to weigh-up the risk vs reward.
Anthony has expressed his desire to fight the best and biggest names in Boxing. He is in perfect condition to perform as he did against Sergey Rabchenko to win the WBC 154 Silver Title. If we can’t secure a fair deal with anyone or fight for the full WBC 154 title (Mayweather or other if vacated), he will defend his WBC Silver Title and would even like to fight Gennady Golovkin at a catch-weight 156lb to further prove himself against the best fighters of our era.
At this stage of Anthony’s career we feel we are being smart and we have to be calculated as every deal we enter affects his legacy. And deals which detract from his strategy are bad deals for Mundine.
We welcome any debate on our matters and always happy to provide any information to fans that is not confidential or commercially sensitive. We always appreciate the media getting a complete story before publishing to fans.
Best Regards
Ben Thompson
for Anthony Mundine