The Man moving up in class

July 23, 2001 - By Paul Upham: Exciting Australian super-middleweight Anthony "The Man" Mundine is planning to return to the ring in early September and is looking for a tougher challenge in his next outing.

The undefeated Mundine scored a third round knockout over veteran Kevin Pompey, on the Eric Lucas-Glenn Catley undercard at the Molson Centre in Montreal, Canada two weeks ago.

"I have contacted Don Majeski in the USA and asked him to find Anthony a highly ranked super middleweight who is prepared to come to Australia," said Khoda Nasser, Mundine's manager. "We saw the new WBC super middleweight champion in person in Canada and there is no reason Anthony Mundine cannot beat Eric Lucas or any of the other champions out there."

In his overseas debut the 26-year-old IBF Pan Pacific and PABA super middleweight champion, 8-0 (7), used his jab well and unloaded some big right hands on the 36 year-old Pompey, 32-18-3 (12).

"We were originally supposed to fight Alex Hilton in Montreal but he opted out of the fight. There have already been other fighters who have turned down fights with Anthony. The hardest thing right now is to get the tougher fights that he needs to show that he will be the next world champion," said Nasser.

The former rugby league superstar is currently spending time with new son Rahim, who was born just prior to him returning to Sydney from Canada. The Man will return to full training shortly for an early September bout in Sydney.