Who is anthony mundine

Other players of Aboriginal origin had often been selected by the sport's judges, he conceded, but never ones who attracted as much attention as him for their views. In , he aroused further scorn with his conversion to Islam. Then, in April of , he vanished for nearly ten days. He had gone to United States to visit a family he once lived with as a high-school basketball star in the early s, and resurfaced carrying the autobiography of Muhammad Ali, the American boxing great and convert to Islam.

At a press conference, he announced he was leaving rugby, and turned down a contract that would have set a new NRL salary record. Mundine spent a year working on his own autobiography, which he titled The Man —a nickname for himself that he had often used—and trained with his father to enter the ring once again.

His career switch was a major media story in Australia, and critics waited with some degree of gleeful apprehension to see him knocked out by far more talented fighters. Instead, Mundine racked up an impressive record, winning seven of his first nine fights by knockout.

His detractors claimed that the boxing wins came from being matched against older or less able boxers in the Australian super-middleweight class. The reaction, both public and official, was swift and severe: he was stripped of his world ranking of No. He apologized on television for his comments, noting that he knew Americans who had been personally affected by the tragedy, and publicly repudiated terrorism.

Mundine eventually resumed his boxing career, and in June of won the World Boxing Association WBA super-middleweight title by beating Antwun Echols, an American fighter, in a points decision. He defended his title once successfully, but then lost it to Manny Siaca of Puerto Rico. Later in , Mundine was forced to drop out of some scheduled fights when he became ill from a virus that was sweeping through Sydney.

This biographical entry was contributed by Australian Indigenous Autobiography Archive. Anthony took some of his teammates with him to visit Redfern, so that they could bear witness to the poor conditions in which Aboriginal people live.

Anthony ranks education above sporting success as the most the important avenue for Aboriginal advancement, as he believes they are underrepresented in professional and political arenas. Anthony critiques the negative attitude towards education that prevails in the Aboriginal community, and describes his own efforts to change young peoples approach to schooling.

Anthony does not elaborate upon the path he took to become an elite football player, nor give the details of his contract with the St. George Dragons and the Brisbane Broncos. Anthony believes that he proved himself to be the best player in the League, but that his talent often goes unrecognized due to people prejudice against him.

Mundine listed his performance with the and NRL grand final with the St George Dragons and his Grand final performance with the Brisbane Broncos as big career achievements. The press conference was interrupted by a surprise call from surfing champion Kelly Slater, who called to congratulate the retiree.

I feel as though I was crucified for that, and probably rightly so. Please find it in your heart to forgive me.

Mundine says he will now dedicate his time to his business, MGM Building Maintenance, an Indigenous building company he co-founded with Gosh Daher and supporting mob mental health through his other business, Mundine Mindset.