Greatest Ever Boxing Workouts - including Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Roberto Duran. Gary Todd
that earned himself another crack at the crafty German’s world title.
It was now 2004 and Green wanted to keep busy while waiting for his shot, so next up was the hard-as-nails New Zealand fighter Sean Sullivan. This was supposed to be a ‘get the money in the bank’ fight before he travelled back to Germany, but it turned out to be a disaster for ‘the Green Machine’.
The fight went the full ten rounds and Green won, but at the end of the fight something was terribly wrong with him. No one knew, but he had extreme dehydration, and his body was shutting down on him. He was rushed to hospital, where he was diagnosed and treated.
For me, this was the turning point of his career. Would we ever see the same Danny Green again?
He returned to the ring six months later and fought at light heavyweight, beating Omar Eduardo, but not before being decked in the second round. Green was more embarrassed than hurt, getting back to his feet and thumping Eduardo all the way back to Argentina. He was back on track for another shot at Beyer.
With a score to settle Green trained hard for a 12-round fight, but in the rematch Beyer was too experienced and just too good a boxer, fighting brilliantly to retain his title in March 2005.
Green returned to Australia and fought again at light heavyweight. This time he took on the American James Crawford and battered him around the ring, finally stopping him in the fifth round. Not long after, it was announced that Green would be facing ‘the Sandman’, Scott Pemberton. This was a big fight for Green; as a win it would have put him in line for another world title shot. Unfortunately, Green injured his back while sparring in America against the body puncher Julio Gonzales, and had no choice but to pull out of the fight.
(Pemberton’s next option was to face the might of Jeff ‘Left Hook’ Lacy. The power-punching Lacy took him apart easily, to keep his IBF Super Middleweight world title just a little while longer.)
With one door closing, another one opened for Green; standing there was Anthony Mundine. After years of talking, it was announced that the two fierce rivals would finally meet, but not before Green fought the tough Mexican Kirino Garcia. Green had to win in impressive style, and he did, controlling Garcia with his tight combinations and robotic piston-like jab to win on points.
In May 2006, Green’s fight with Mundine was the richest non-title fight in the history of Australian boxing; it was, without a doubt, ‘the fight that stopped a nation’ – to quote my own magazine article about the bout. With millions of dollars guaranteed, and most likely a shot at the big Dane Mikkel Kessler later in the year, a lot was at stake. But this fight was all about ‘bragging rights’, pride and passion, and finally deciding who was the best super middleweight in Australia.
Green trained behind closed doors, shunning the media, while Mundine trained in his father Tony Mundine’s famous gym in Sydney, also spending time in an outback-style training camp in the Australian bush.
Come fight night, Green looked fearsome while walking to the ring. In the fight itself, Mundine proved too fast and classy for the aggressive Green, peppering him with lightning-quick hooks and uppercuts to win well on points, in front of a 30,000-plus crowd at the ‘Aussie Stadium’ in Sydney.
After years of boiling down to maintain the 168-pound weight limit, Green came back to campaign at light heavyweight. This proved beneficial for the ‘surfer from Scarbrough’.
With big KO wins behind him at the new weight, he challenged the Croatian giant Stipe Drews for his WBA world crown. Green’s people lured Drews to Australia and it looked like he didn’t want to be there. Green out-punched him easily to win on points.
Not long after, while training to make his first defence of the world title, Green announced his retirement to the disbelief of a nation. There were rumours of him being beaten up in the gym by a sparring partner, but Green said he just woke up one morning and decided to retire. Whatever the facts, Danny Green was out of the fight game … or so we thought.
In 2009 Green was back. He announced that he was fighting in his hometown of Perth, Western Australia against the South African Anthony Van Niekerk. The Afrikaaner never knew what hit him, and was punched around the ring before the referee stepped in to save him from serious damage.
Green hadn’t just ate, drank and made merry while in retirement. First of all, his team chased Anthony Mundine for a rematch at light heavyweight. When this didn’t come off, they chased the next best option, Roy Jones Jnr. Jones was a ring legend, an eight-time world champion and still a major draw card, even if in name only. If he came to Australia, to fight Green and it was promoted right, it would be worth millions to each fighter. Green also had an ace up his sleeve: he was a world champion, in a weight class that Roy hadn’t cleaned up. It was billed as a history-making fight for both men. In order to make it a reality, Jones and Green had to fight on the same card as each other and both had to look good. They rose to it, Jones beating the crap out of Jeff Lacy and Green bulldozing Julio Cesar Dominguez in five rounds.
The fight was hugely promoted and, come fight night, 17,000 Australians came out to watch Danny Green fight Roy Jones Jnr. in Sydney.
When I looked at the build-up to the fight, I thought at first that I probably wouldn’t even watch it; Jones in his prime would have taken Green to school, and then some, but I couldn’t help thinking back to the fight with Beyer. Green could be so aggressive, and could land a powerful right hand. But I also looked at Jones’ fight with Lacy, and decided to go with his speed and experience.
In the event, Green was on fire and came out as expected, jabbing, and looking for the big right hand. Jones Jnr. looked old as Green pushed forward, going to the body, then bang! Jones was down. His legs were gone. He got up, but was staggering badly, and Green launched a flurry of unanswered head and body punches until the referee called it off. Green would say it was his biggest victory, and his best performance. He had beaten a ring legend, but for me, I’ll never forget that ever-so-brutal and painful night in Nurberg.
DANNY GREEN’S TYPICAL DAY
What time do you get up to run? 5:45am.
Do you stretch before you run? Yes, warm-up exercises to get the blood flowing.
How far do you run? Six-eight kilometres (occasionally I do ten kilometres), usually at four minutes per kilometre. Twice a week I do 120 metres, hill sprints. I keep going until exhausted.
After running, what do you do? I stretch in the shower, and shadowbox, ducking and weaving.
What do you have for your breakfast? Fresh fruit, banana, cereal (sultana bran), Weetabix, rye bread with vegemite or jam. I also have a special drink with five carrots, one green capsicum, two apples, one orange and spinach. I have this three times a day, [it’s an] amino acid drink.
What time do you go to the gym? 12:30pm.
What time do you leave the gym? 2:30pm.
What do you do after training? I shower, then I usually have baked beans on toast, then relax, then I conduct my business (meetings, etc).
What do you have for your dinner? I have chicken and veggies, or shepherd’s pie, or fish and vegetables, then I have a cup of black tea and two chocolate biscuits.
Do you have any interests or hobbies? I love playing with my daughter, and teaching her things. Playing the drums, and surfing.
What do you do after dinner? I watch TV, maybe read, and I enjoy doing quizzes with my dad.
What time do you go to bed? 10:30pm.
What is your favourite exercise in the gym? I enjoy working on the bags (floor to ceiling) and sparring.
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