Anthony Mundine to 'sail into the sunset' after latest loss
Anthony Mundine's boxing career hangs in the balance after the former WBA super-middleweight champion lost to John Wayne Parr in Brisbane.
Judges scored the fight 94-95, 96-93 & 95-93 in favour of the Muay Thai legend who was fighting in a boxing ring for the first time in 16 years.
Mundine was knocked down in the fourth round of the middleweight contest but survived a standing eight count before being docked a point in the eighth for hitting Parr in the back of the head.
Although he edged the final round, two of the judges gave the decision to Parr whose last fight was against Sakio Bika in 2003.
The defeat takes Mundine's record to 48-10 and at 44 years of age, with four of those losses coming in his last five fights.
The former NRL star will be under pressure to walk away from a sport that saw him first enter the ring 19 years ago following a successful rugby league career.
“I’ve had a wonderful career. I thought I did enough to win but that’s boxing. I’m going to sail into the sunset now,” Mundine said after the fight.
“I want to thank all the Australian public. Even if they didn’t support me or didn’t like my opinions, I always did my best.”
Congratulations to John Wayne Parr and Anthony Mundine on an amazing careers and delivering a fight worthy of the countries attention. #Australia #boxing pic.twitter.com/ahzcAkDFJI
— Rob Schyff (@RobSchyff1) December 1, 2019
Anthony Mundine finished, finally.
— Dane Wheeler (@DaneWheeler) November 30, 2019
Thanks for the memories @Anthony_Mundine Enjoy your retirement and your health 🙏
— Adam Auld (@Adam_Auld) November 30, 2019
Mundine enjoyed several high points, included victories over American Antwun Echols to win the vacant super-middleweight title in 2003 before embarking on a bitter rivalry with Danny Green.
The pair faced off in a memorable event at the Sydney Football Stadium in front of 37,000 fans in what is regarded as the biggest fight on Australian soil.