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Who? Mundine finally confirms opponent

It was a case of third time lucky for Anthony Mundine after he was finally able to confirm his opponent six days ahead of his WBA International middleweight title fight in Brisbane.

And it has hardly been worth the wait – Mundine will take on New Zealand journeyman Gunnar Jackson.

But Mundine insisted on Friday that a much more impressive name would be announced by April – Ghanian light middleweight Joshua Clottey, who has gone the distance with Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

Cynics would have taken the claim with a grain of salt after a chaotic build-up to Wednesday night’s fight.

The same week he revealed he would consider becoming a political heavyweight and run for Prime Minister one day, Mundine was flat out finding a middleweight to challenge.

Initial opponent Carson Jones this week pulled out due to the ‘flu and his replacement – American journeyman Billy Lyell – failed to sign his contract on time.

Mundine’s manager Khoder Nasser was forced to look across the ditch for a last-gasp opponent for a card that will also feature Wallabies star and good mate Quade Cooper on the undercard.

“Yeah, finally,” Mundine said when asked if he had booked an opponent for next week.

“I didn’t know if I was going to fight after Carson pulled out.

“I had found another worthy opponent who had fought Julio Cesar Chavez and gone the distance with those sort of guys but he didn’t sign the contract on time.

“We told them it was urgent but they bided their time to probably get more money but we had another back-up.

“But it doesn’t matter who is in front of me.”

Mundine admitted the build-up had been a distraction “a little bit” but insisted he was still on track to fight WBA junior middleweight “super” champion Floyd Mayweather by year’s end.

“I have to stay active. If I can’t beat this calibre of fighters (Jackson) than I don’t belong in the ring with the best that I want to fight,” he said.

“These are more dangerous fights than the name fighters. These guys have nothing to lose and everything to gain and I am on the flip side of that coin.”

After confirming he was a big chance of taking on Clottey in the coming months, Mundine said he wanted to “clarify my comments about running Prime Minister”.

“The thing about me running for Prime Minister, if I had aspirations to do that after my career I am going to do it,” he said.

“I hope to inspire others they can achieve their dreams. Anything is possible. The mind is very powerful.”

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