Some of the books, including Several Bookmakers, have already posted odds for the Anthony Mundine vs Sergey Rabchenko Light Middleweight fight scheduled for Melbourne, Australia this coming November 12th. With the bout less than two weeks away, Mundine is the underdog at (+350) despite fighting on his home turf, with Rabchenko paying at (-485). Mundine is still one of Australia’s most popular fighters, but he is approaching 40 years old, and at (46-6) overall, it is hard to see what he can do in this fight. For this bout, Mundine seems to have borrowed the script that Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins is using, as the similarities with the Hopkins vs Kovalev fight which took place this past weekend are there. In Rabchenko, Mundine has an opponent who is a perfect (25-0) with 18 stoppages, and he is nearly a dozen years younger. Rabchenko has had his 25 fights in Europe, and has never traveled the distance he will have to put in for this match, but those factors are mitigated by his professionalism. He must realize that despite his advantages, Mundine is probably the best opponent he has faced on what might be considered a padded record. Though Mundine may be following Hopkins’ script, he is no Bernard Hopkins. Mundine last fought in April of this year, when he dropped a 12-rounder in Australia to Joshua Clottey. For Mundine, it was a last grasp at raising his ranking and getting one last crack at the world title, but Clottey won by a respectable margin as Mundine went down five times in the course of the bout. In January of 2013 he dropped a bid for the IBF world middleweight title held by Britain’s Daniel Geale, and he rebounded in November of 2013 by stopping Shane Mosley in what would be Mosley’s last fight. Mosley is one of the best fighters of his era, but he was long past his prime. Though the win over Mosley buoyed Mundine’s aspirations to stay at the top of the game, it was a bit of a false flag in that beating a 43 year old Shane Mosley is not as meaningful. The line reflects that Mundine does not have much currency left, as Rabchenko is expected to come in and get the job done. Rabchenko too, is no Kovalev, but he does own a more than respectable 18 KOs in 25 fights and with Mundine hitting the canvas five times in his last outing, you have to feel that Rabchenko will be looking for a stop as well. This one may be worth looking at the over/under, though Several Bookmakers has not posted that at the time this article is being written. Also on the card, two other 12 round bouts are scheduled that may warrant a look from the books as we get closer to fight time. At Heavyweight, undefeated Lucas Browne (21-0) faces the experienced Chauncy Welliver (55-8-5) as he tries to keep winning and make a case for himself as a potential top 10 heavyweight. The card is topped by the Light Welterweight match between Mexico’s hard slugging Misael Castillo (26-3, 24 KO’s) and Leonardo Zappavigna (32-2). The match is for a WBO regional belt and figures to be a close fight on paper.
