Fight Night

I went to the Mundine v Green fight at Aussie Stadium last night. I went with Matt, Mitch, Graham, and Matt's friend Jess. What a fun night it was. We five guys were just a small contribution to a stadium full of testosterone. I doubt you get many sporting events with a greater gender imbalance than there was last night.

Mitch, Graham and I arrived at 5pm (after a killer steak at the pub up the road from home), right at the beginning for 5 hours of undercard fights. There were 11 fights all up, and when you sit through 5 hours of men punching each other your attention sometimes wanes. You tend to watch some fights with interest and others barely register. But happily there was pleanty of other stuff to keep you interested. Like watching what happens on the field when two rival bikie gangs walk past and get surrounded by nervous cops. Or watching the reaction of the crowd when the women advertsing "men's entertainment" come near. Or seeing the look in the eyes of the man who drops his bottle of rum which you pick up for him and he thinks your going to steal it. Things like that. There was plenty to keep you interested.

On the undercard one of my two favouirte moments was when a fighter names Clinton who was knocked out one and half minutes in. He got punched, rather lightly it looked, then half a second later seemed to loose the will to fight and just drop. He didn't seem to actually get knocked out, the punch just seemed to be an excuse to get out. It was rather funny to watch. But you probably had to be there.

The other highlight (if you can call it that) was seeing Hoppa's proffessional debut. He was set up against this big, 45 year-old guy who looked like Lando Calrissian (who I mistook for Boba Fett, what a bad Star Wars fan I am). Hoppa came into the ring with the most excitement that anyone recieved who wasn't Mundiene or Green. And then went on to destroy the guy in 47 seconds. It was pretty massive. Poor old guy, one can't help but thinking he wasn't there because anyone thought he'd beat Hoppa.

When 10pm rolled around it was time for the main event, so after an Aboriginal smoking cerimony the fighters were brought out with much fanfair, booing and cheering. I was going for Green because I think Mundine talks himself up too much.

The fight was good. Green came out looking better for the first few rounds but never seemed to dominate. But Mundine had the stamina and managed to come out looking better at the end. But both fighters, as far as my amature eyes could tell did good. It was a close fight, but sadly Mundine did that bit better. And it really was sad.

When the fight finished Mitch gave me a lift home, but we sat in the carpark listening to Spoonman (and other Triple MMM late night-ness) first for the better part of an hour waiting for some movement. It was sad. I think walking may have been quicker.