ANTHONY Mundine will start the outsider against Shane "Sugar" Mosley Wednesday night at Sydney's Allphones Arena, Olympic Park but he won't hear of defeat against the six-time world boxing champion.
Mundine, the former world champion from Blakehurst, relaxed at good friend Dick Caine's Carss Park Pool centre after watching Manny Pacquiao regain his world title over Brandon Rios on Sunday.
"He'll [Mosley] find out in person just how fast my punches are," said Mundine, after the American Mosley suggested the fight would only serve as a "warm-up".
Mundine's camp has had time to study the devastating right hand which Mosley has used to dispatch opponents over the years, after their planned fight last month was suddenly cancelled when a promoter failed to pay Mosley in advance.
Mundine, 38, has also had to prepare to fight at the lighter weight (junior middleweight), and deal with the suspicious fire which destroyed his Boxa Bar cafe at Hurstville.
He believes Mosley - the most accomplished boxer he has taken on - has lost some of the edge he had, and plans to exploit his age advantage (four years) over Mosley, using his natural ring speed.
"Look Shane Mosley is obviously still a great fighter, but I don't think he's met anyone quite like me," Mundine said.
■Billy Dib will consider his career after his rematch against Evgeny Gradovich was stopped in the ninth round on Sunday in Macao on the Pacquiao vs Rios undercard.
The undefeated Gradovich defended the IBF featherweight title he won off Dib earlier this year, and the punishment Dib was taking forced his corner to throw in the towel to stop the fight in the ninth round. It was Dib's third loss from 39 fights. Dib said he would consider retiring if he could not win.
Does Mundine still have what it takes to defeat Mosley?