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Money's on Green comeback and Mundine fight

Ray Wilson, Perth
June 25, 2008

ALFRED Hitchcock couldn't have stage-managed a better piece of sporting theatre.

In one corner, we have West Australian boxing hero Danny Green. In the other, his nemesis and serial irritant Anthony Mundine.

In the middle of the ring is a spectacular pot of money that Green says would make your eyes water and your wallet bulge.

The question is whether the retired Green, 35, and Mundine, 33, get to fight over the spoils.

For Green, it's apparent that the "M" word no longer just stands for Mundine. Money also has become a potential motivational force for a man who said he stood to earn possibly an extra $10 million had he not retired on March 25.

Yesterday, Green described the fight within him over an offerfrom the Mundine camp that was so heavy with zeroes, it came from Sydney by train.

For three days, the sporting world has lived with the speculation of Green getting back into the ring to tackle Mundine, who beat him on May 17, 2006, in Sydney.

Now, in true Hitchcock style, the tension and drama will build over the next few months as Green decides.

Green, glowing in good health and unmarked from his 16 years in the ring, described the deal sent by the Mundine camp as a ludicrous amount of money.

"The contract just lobbed. It's a king-hit. A monster punch he's thrown," Green said, resorting to the cliches of his sport.

And then a straight right at potential critics. "People haven't been offered what I have been offered," he said.

Later, though, after talking all about the money, he said it wasn't all about the money.

He indicated there was a surge of support for the bout to take place, from people in the street to grandmothers at his book signings.

For some boxers, retirement is simply the time between comebacks. Some of the greats, such as Muhammad Ali, "Sugar" Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and "Sugar" Ray Leonard all quit and then fell back under the spell of the sweet science.

Leonard, who returned to the ring from retirement four or five times, depending on whose version you read, summed it up this way: "Nothing ever — I mean ever, ever — will give you that same high. You can never duplicate that same excitement, that rush, that adrenalin, that power.

"And until you realise that and accept that, until you realise that nothing will ever top that, you'll make those comebacks."

Insiders were talking yesterday in terms of a $5 million payday for Green for a fight staged in Perth.

"The smart part of my brain, if there is one up there, is saying, 'Stay retired'," Green said.

"In my heart, the 'Rocky' part is saying, 'Come back'."

I think his head is on a hiding to nothing.