WOLLONGONG, 20 January 2004 — Australian Anthony Mundine recovered from a knock down to retain his World Boxing Association super-middleweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of Japan’s Yoshinori Nishizawa here yesterday.
Mundine, making his first title defense since beating American Antwun Echols on points in Sydney last September, was put on the canvas by a short, right hand just before the end of the second round.
But the 28-year-old Australian bounced back to his feet after being knocked down for the first time since a knockout by German Sven Ottke.
Mundine lived up to his promise to win inside six rounds when he put Nishizawa down with a short right, 40 seconds from the end of the fourth round.
Mundine then opened a cut over Nishizawa’s left eye in the opening seconds of the fifth round and sent him to the canvas again with another flurry of punches.
English referee John Coyle stopped the bout at the 43-second mark of the fifth round. Mundine improved his record to 20 wins (15KOs, and one loss) while 38-year-old Nishizawa dropped to 24 victories (12kos, 14 losses, and five draws).
The three judges from Australia, France and the United States all had Mundine 38-36 ahead at the time of the stoppage.
“He’s got heart, he’s got courage but I did what I said I was going to do,” Mundine said of Nishizawa.
WBA Bantamweight Champ Bredahl to Fight Todaka at Home
In Tokyo, World Boxing Association bantamweight champion Johnny Bredahl of Denmark will take on Japan’s Hideki Todaka in Copenhagen on March 13, ring promoters said yesterday.
Todaka beat Venezuelan veteran Leo Gamez on a split decision in Tokyo on Oct. 4 on his way to earning the right to challenge for the WBA crown. Bredahl won a unanimous decision over Frenchman David Gerault in Copenhagen three weeks later in his last defense of the title he won in April 2002. His record stretched to 54 wins, 25 of them by knockout, against two losses.
