ANTHONY MUNDINE might be the biggest name in Australian boxing, but Shannan Taylor insists he is still the "baddest" - even if the reformed cocaine addict will pray in his dressing room with a Wollongong pastor before tonight's bout.
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"He wants to call himself 'The Man', he wants to call himself the bad boy, he wants to call himself everything, but I'll tell you now that I am the real bad boy," Taylor said after Mundine described himself as "a bad boy" during a media conference at yesterday's weigh-in.
"You know why I'm the bad boy? Because I hung around gangsters when I was younger - I mean the old-time guys. They're all 70 or 80 years old now but they'll all be flying down from the Gold Coast to be here for the fight. I didn't do anything too bad, I just drove them around, but I always made a good earn for myself."
On the eve of the biggest fight of his career since he lost to boxing great Shane Mosley in a WBC welterweight title bout at Caesars Palace Casino in Las Vegas eight years ago, Taylor insisted he had now turned his life around after finding God.
Since serving a six-month suspension for a positive drugs test in 2001, Taylor has had 27 bouts and is ranked No.10 in the middleweight division by the WBA.
"I've lived boxing since I was 9¨ö so all I did was sleep, eat and train," he said. "I had 97 amateur fights and I never got involved in anything wrong like drugs or that until I fought [Mosley] for the world title.
"But I've changed now, I've got children in my life and I go to church so I'm a good boy now. I've got Scott Hanzy from the Gateway City Church coming into my dressing room before the fight to do a prayer for my team, we did one today and we did one on Sunday. It really helps me out. You get plenty of cowboys wanting to have a go at you [outside the ring] but I've learnt to walk away now. I've got my runs on the board. I don't need to prove who I am."
But the 36-year-old was still angered that Danny Green had used the eve of his fight against Mundine to announce he was coming out of retirement and wanted a rematch with The Man.
"Listen, it's me and Mundine now," Taylor said. "Come out of retirement next week, Green, or stay out of it. You gave it up and you gave your word to the public that 'I'm not going to be one of those dumb boxers who come out of retirement'. Now he's coming out on my day ¡¦"
Whether the re-match happens is likely to depend on how much fans want to see a repeat of the biggest bout in Australian boxing history.
Mundine also took a shot at Green's timing yesterday, but admitted: "If they pay me what I want, I'll whip that arse again."
If Green had accepted an offer from the Mundine camp before the latter relinquished his WBA super-middleweight title after beating Sam Soliman last May, the fight would have either already taken place, or the pair would be preparing for it.
Instead, Mundine's career has gone in a different direction and he will tonight fight at middleweight for the first time after weighing in at 72.35 kilograms - just below the 72.57kg limit and 0.2kg lighter than Taylor.
If he beats Taylor, Mundine is due to fight Germany's Felix Sturm for the WBA middleweight title later this year.
After that he hopes to secure big money middleweight bouts with the likes of Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor.
"He's built his name on my name and he's still doing it," Mundine said of Green. "I'm a middleweight now and my intention is to become the undisputed middleweight champion. If Green wants to come in and have this fight, he obviously would want me to jump from middleweight to light-heavyweight, which is seven kilograms. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it but the money has got to be right."
¡á A minute's silence will be held before the fight in memory of the victims of Victoria's bushfires and a collection taken to raise funds for survivors.
