Mundine - Green, should cheats prosper?

[kruddler]

I haven't watched the whole fight but I have seen the first round several times.  The referee clearly made a blunder in not telling the fighters to break before grabbing Green.  Green understandably dropped his guard but remained fair game for Mundine and it was a legal blow.

The rules don't really cover a referee's error but, at a stretch, Mundine's blow could have been considered an unintentional foul and the fight declared a no contest; a popular outcome for all concerned 

Mundine has been in enough boxing matches to know that he shouldn't have thrown that punch. You could argue technicalities and you might give him the benefit of the doubt if you're feeling very generous and its xmas day.

However, the fact Mundine was warned, repeatedly, for hitting Green in the back of the head (and seemingly not giving 2 hoots) and then highlighting that Green brushed him behind the ear moments later (far from what he was admonished for) shows the mindset of Mundine. That is, fight dirty and try and get inside Greens head.

I think the judges saw it the same way. Mundines dirty tactics were not appreciated by Green, the fans and the judges.

So back to the actual fight. From what i saw, Green was in charge early. Mundine was playing the patient game, figuring he'd have the fitness to come over the top later. Although he was indeed in better condition at the end, i don't think he really dominated like he should have.

To me the whole thing looked like 10 rounds of rope a dope, except the counterattack never actually came.

IMO Green was doing the majority of the attacking and Mundine was constantly looking for the counterpunch, but never pulled the trigger.

I've got no problem giving the fight to Green because he was the aggressor in a somewhat tame fight.