Floyd Mayweather Challenged to Anthony Mundine Fight in Open Letter

Various fighters in the boxing stratosphere have tried to secure a cornerstone bout with Floyd Mayweather in a plethora of different ways. But in terms of peculiarity, none quite compares to the open letter Anthony Mundine wrote to the unbeaten American.

The Australian, who was scheduled to fight Austin Trout recently before the bout was called off, has practically begged Money to step into the ring with him on September 12 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

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Mundine, who refers to himself as the "uncrowned best athlete of all time" in the extract, currently holds the WBC silver junior middleweight champion, and as is evident in this section of the letter, the 40-year-old feels that makes him the mandatory man for a title tilt, per Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com:

"

I heard you mentioned names like Mayfield & Berto as your next opponents. Im the mandatory and that should looked at. I’ve got other attributes that none of these cats got! Makes for a good boxing spectacle both in and outta the ring. Its what the boxing fans need to see!

I revived boxing in my country. It was dead and I gave it mouth-to-mouth — and i’ve held it down for 15 years! And the Australian media doing their best to belittle me and keep me from my destiny. We have the tall poppy syndrome here. They wanna cut down the successful. And after all my achievements in two sports they still wont give me the credit. But thats cool. I already know im the best 2 sport champion ever. I dont need their validation. Thats why ima reachin out to you Floyd. Put on a Boxing spectacular.

"

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Mundine also lists all of his achievements in resume-esque style before signing off with "I come from the land of the kangaroo where us natives shake a leg. Let's go!"

Needless to say, it's a bout that looks extremely unlikely to happen. While there is little disputing Mundine's claim that he's a quality athlete—the Aussie was a rugby league star before turning to professional boxing—he doesn't have the credentials to warrant a shot at Mayweather.

Alex McClintock of Radio National wasn't inspired by Mundine's pleas:

"

Anthony Mundine's open letter to Floyd Mayweather is just about the most cringeworthy thing I've ever seen http://t.co/OAdC2WscWZ

— Alex McClintock (@axmcc) July 6, 2015"

After beating Manny Pacquiao earlier this year in the sport's most lucrative fight ever, Mayweather, who has one fight remaining on his Showtime contract, bizarrely cited Karim Mayfield and Andre Berto as potential opponents for his 49th professional bout, per SkySports.com.

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But the prospect of Money scheduling a bout with Mundine, who beat Sergey Rabchenko in his previous bout in late 2014, seems to make even less sense. Ladbrokes Australia couldn't resist reacting to the letter:

"

After 50 Cent read #Mundine's open letter to #Mayweather pic.twitter.com/llMrC65q4A

— Ladbrokes.com.au (@ladbrokescomau) July 6, 2015"

Mundine has shown himself to be a capable competitor, having beaten Shane Mosley in his heyday. But he's nowhere near talented enough to trouble arguably the most technically talented fighter the sport has ever seen.

Mayweather may not want to take on a major threat to his unbeaten record in what could well be his last fight. But the American's promoters will be keen to make this a lucrative occasion, and although Floyd commands plenty of gravitas, a lopsided dismantling of Mundine wouldn't appeal to many boxing fans across the globe.