Odds, betting tips & specials for Anthony Mundine vs Danny Green

Friday, February 3, 2017, Adelaide Oval, undercard from 7pm on Fox Sports 506, main card from 7pm on Main Event pay per view.

THE battle lines have been drawn and, while in reality, the bout between Danny Green and Anthony Mundine is a fight between a pair of old farts well past their prime, it hasn’t deterred the punters.

Controversial Mundine knows how to put bums on seats and he doesn’t care how.

Only yesterday he insulted the Australian public yet again by vowing to take a seat as Jessica Mauboy sang the National Anthem before the fight – if it wasn’t scrapped at his request.

While Mundine is the drawcard, no one actually thinks he can beat Green, the former NRL star is way out at $2.75 with Sportsbet.com.au, while the Green Machine is the comfortable favourite at $1.45.

Even though at 41 years of age he is two years Green’s junior (43), Sportsbet.com.au reports 80 per cent of all the money on the fight is for Green to take the win in the centre of Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

It has been 10 years since the two men fought in front of more than 34,000 people at the Sydney Football Stadium.

In that bout, Mundine danced around the ring, avoiding just about everything Green threw at him, taking out a unanimous points decision in a battle that remains Foxtel’s highest selling pay per view of all time.

A lot has changed.

Mundine will fight at 83 kilograms, well up from the 76.2 kilogram super middleweight range he fought Green at 10 years ago. He’s saying he has had to put on 13 kilograms to come up in weight, but we all know The Man is prone to exaggeration.

Add to that he’s had the stuffing punched out of him in recent fights and you have a recipe for disaster – at least that’s what Aussie boxing legend Jeff Fenech says.

Fenech reckons the fight should be called off, fearing for Mundine’s health.

That won’t happen, so we have to see if he is capable of taking it up to the Green Machine.

Mundine actually won his 2014 fight – against Sergey Rabchenko – in his typical fashion, unanimous decision – and became the mandatory contender for Floyd Mayweather’s WBC world championship belt (like that was ever going to happen).

A perforated eardrum before his planned fight with Austin Trout forced him out and then he was smoked by Charles Hatley in November 2015, losing the super welter weight title he claimed from Rabchenko.

After losing a pair of fights in 2011, many thought Green’s career was over, but he has chosen his bouts well over the past six years, winning on each of the past four occasions he has stepped in the ring.

He most recently defeated Kane Watts in August last year by unanimous decision, winning the cruiserweight title in an ideal tune up for his clash with Mundine.

Plenty of people have said this fight is between two irrelevant fossils and no one is interested, but, if you’re from that school of thought, i’m here to inform you otherwise.

This fight is almost a sell out with almost 40,000 tickets sold.

That’s right, it’s going to be bigger the Green V Mundine I.

Let’s hope it can somehow give people what they paid for.

Mundine vs. Green fight predictions

Fight results: Danny Green to win ($1.45 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Method of victory: Danny Green by KO or TKO ($2.25 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Group round betting: Danny Green to win in rounds 4-6 ($6.50 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Pull out the walking frames boys, this one’s going to be a doozy. Grandpa Simpson vs. Hans Moleman.

In all seriousness though, it is very difficult to find a reason to back Mundine, aside from his career that might seem pristine, but on analysis is only mediocre at best.

He has not stepped in the ring in more than a year and at 83 kilograms and 41 years of age, the spring and endurance that helped him dance around opponents to his victories may well dessert him.

To put it bluntly, he looks fat. Not that this writer is the most athletic man going, but, by the same token, we’re not about to step into the ring against a bloke who has fought at the weight for most of his career.

As we mentioned, Mundine’s skill has always been his ability to avoid what his opponent throws at him, get his little shots in and let the judges do the rest for him.

If this goes the distance, it will be a huge surprise. Green should be able to to stop the fight with his striking. Due to the change in Mundine’s fitness, I can see him dancing around the ring early, before tiring.

It only takes one mistake and Green will end this fight and I think the fatigue of carrying the extra weight will cause Mundine to lose focus and Green will strike somewhere in rounds four to six.

Outside of the fight, you may as well put your house on Mundine sitting for Jessica Mauboy’s rendition of the anthem. Unless he has teed up a few mates to bet on him standing, there is no way he is going to compromise his faux crusader persona.