Exclusive Boxing Interview: Danny \”The Green Machine\” Green

With their wins against different opponents in Perth last week, Aussie Super Middleweights Danny Green and Anthony Mundine paved the way for what will surely become the richest fight in Australian boxing history to take place early next year… The Man versus The Machine.

Fresh from his hard fought but very convincing win over Mexico’s Kirino Garcia, world rated super middleweight contender Danny “The Green Machine” Greenwas kind enough to spend some time with us to discuss, among other things, his last fight, his new trainer, Anthony Mundine and getting on the wrong side of James Toney?

SB: Congratulations on your win the previous Sunday, Garcia was a tough guy and you bruised your right and. How is it feeling and how are you in general?

DG: “Yeah, no problem. The hand was pretty badly hurt. I did it in the third round, I hit him on the crown, then I did it in the seventh and again in the eighth. I hit him on top of the head and he rode the punches, he was riding the right hand pretty well. He was a pretty experienced guy mate, who we picked to give me the rounds that I needed to do. For this fight we did over 120 rounds of sparring because we knew we were up against a tough guy. In preparation for a fight all your hard work is done in the gym. I was happy to get the victory and do it a lot smarter than what I have previously. In the previous couple of years I might have just wore the guy down and thought right, lets get him out of here. This time my brain took over and I showed control and patience and I was happy with that. It was a learning thing for me, I’ve only had twenty three fights so I’m still learning.”

SB: It was only your second fight under trainer Ismael Salas; what does he bring to camp that you perhaps didn’t have before?

DG: “All coaches possess skills, ideas and techniques that other coaches don?t have so everyone is different. He has things that my previous coach didn’t have, but he doesn’t have things that my previous coach had. They balance out in the end. Basically Salas has been in a lot of big fights and he has that big fight experience when it comes to world championships. He?s a very, very good boxing coach and he reads a fight very well. He reads the opponent and studies the opponent hard and he studies me. So together we get on well and we’ve formed a good union. I’m very happy with the way things are working out with Salas and he’s happy as well so it’s a good teammate.”

SB: I thought that you boxed really well on the back foot, using your jab a lot more in this fight which is something that we haven?t seen much from you before. Was it a c! onscious effort to work on something
different?

DG: “I guess the thing was to go there and relax and enjoy myself. We had a big crowd there and I think I
may have, in the past, let my balls take over my brain and think, I’m gonna go toe to toe with this guy.
He’s a tough guy and I daresay that had I stepped it up and got in the trenches with him that I could have
got him out of there earlier. But there?s no point in doing that because I would have got hit myself and
taken unnecessary punishment. The aim of boxing is to hit and not get hit (laughs) and I’m slowly starting
to realise that. But we were trying different things, using the jab and giving him lots of distance. I’m not
gonna give too much away, but we chose this guy because he’s nothing like Anthony Mundine. You can’t
practice for someone in half an hour of action. In the weeks and months leading up to a fight that’s when you
do all your preparation f! or your upcoming opponent. We were happy to come away with a dominant victory and to come away relatively unscathed.”

SB: I thoughtthat you were unfairly treated by the Australian East Coast media for giving your hometown fans
a bit of a rev up, given the fact that Mundine came out like someone from the WWF. Was it tough hearing some of that?

DG: “You know what, I can?t let that get me down. I don’t let it bother me because I know what I did and I
know what transpired. I don?t think that me having a bit of fun and giving the crowd a bit of a gee up in
any way or form incited people to throw bottles. Those people were gonna throw bottles regardless. With
Anthony coming to the ropes and motioning like he was gonna cut my throat, once again it’s all theatrics and
a bit of hype and gamesmanship between myself and Anthony which shouldn?t ever spill over into the crowd. I was disappointed with the fact that some people went overboard and were throwing bottles. I don’t condone it, as I’ve said. But lets not forget who’s gee’d the crowd up from day one. I don’t really have to say too much. But no matter what Anthony does, it still doesn’t justify people throwing bottles at an athlete. A tiny minority of people went overboard and those people would have done that regardless of what I did. It was always going to happen because of the rivalry between myself and Anthony and I just hope that it stays in the ring between us and goes nowhere else.”

SB: There was a big headline in the paper here on Monday from Kostya Tszyu. He was saying that he
believes the fight will be hard to make, I suppose because Australia is such a small pay-per-view market.
Are you confident that the fight is gonna go ahead?

DG: “Very confident. I know Anthony wants the fight, I want the fight so it?s going ahead.”

SB: Looking ahead to it, do you have a preference out
of Sydney or Melbourne?

DG: “I’m not fussed, I really don’t have a preference. I’d love to have it in Perth but I don’t see that ever
happening. The support I get over here is pretty incredible.”

SB: You said on Sunday night that Mundine always looks sharp, but to me he looked really sharp. It
looked like he’s picked up some moves from Roy Jones Jr. Were you particularly impressed by him?

DG: ” I’ve watched the replay a few times and yeah, he threw some lovely shots. But he was fighting Rico Chong Nee, and poor Rico only had one eye after round one so that made it very difficult, and he still got through with some good shots. I don?t want to take anything away from Anthony Mundine’s performance, he
fought a sharp fight and got Rico out of there in three rounds. It was an impressive display of explosive boxing. One thing I’ve never doubted is Anthony Mundine’s ability and his talent but come fight time with us, it’ll be a different story. I’m very excited because of the two contrasting styles. It’s such an exciting fight because here’s this freaky kind of talent you have in Mundine and I’m more the kind of powerful, aggressive determined guy who wants to brawl and wear his opponent down.”

SB: Joe Calzaghe and Jeff Lacy are fighting in March of next year. Those guys are regarded in the boxing media as the two premier super middleweights in the world. Who do you fancy in that fight?

DG: “Without doubt, Jeff Lacy.”

SB: Have you seen much of him?

DG: “Yeah I have mate, I’ve seen a lot of him. I did an interview before and I said that out of the 168 pounders, he’s the man to beat. At the moment he’s the strongest guy out there and he’s on a roll, his confidence is up and his performances are starting to speak for themselves. As for him putting up his title and going to England, a hostile backyard, that just makes me respect him even more.”

SB: Longer term do you feel like you’ve got some unfinished business with Markus Beyer?

DG: “Definitely. Unofficially it’s one apiece. And that fight there, once again there’s contrasting styles plus the history of our two fights. It’s something that I crave, to get him in the ring again for the third time. Financially, it’s great for both parties if it happens, but there’s a lot of history at stake. I know that I can beat Markus Beyer. I’ve just got to get the chance to prove it.”

SB: Well there was a bunch of my mates down at the Dianella Hotel the last time you fought him going bloody nuts in that last round when you had him out on his feet?

DG: (laughs) “It was strange. That fight was tough, it was a really strange experience because mentally there
were a lot of things going on outside the ring. I guess I wasn?t in the right frame of mind for that fight and to nearly knock him out in the last roundwas just bizarre, it was a crazy experience. But also something that has made me a better fighter, in terms of experience, and a better person. Taking such a big loss on the chin, in a fight I was expected to win. Losing with dignity does a lot for a human being. To be able to cop it and say “You won fair and square on the night, good luck to you.”

SB: How long can you keep making 168, and is light heavyweight a real possibility before you retire?

DG: “I’m not too sure, it depends how long I stay active in the sport for. As it was, I made weight pretty easily, there wasn’t a lot of concerns about weight for this fight, and I’ve only got another kilo and a half to get down to 168. It wasn’t too much of a struggle and next time will be even easier, because I’ll start watching my weight a lot longer out from the fight. Training overweight is no good and that’s one thing I’ve learnt training with the Parramatta(Rugby League) boys. Weight equals power and the more weight I’ve got to lose close to the fight, the less strong I’m going to be. So we monitored that very closely in the lead up to the fight, and I’m happy
with the way I’m making weight.”

SB: I watched some footage of you sparring with James Toney at Freddie Roach’s gym. How did that come about, and is James as hard to get along with as he seems?

DG: (laughs) “The story was blown up and I guess he got upset because in the first round he threw some big
shots and couldn’t put me over and I know for a fact that he’s knocked out fighters that are lighter than him just to get a reaction or to make himself feel good. He would have loved to knock me out, and I’m sure he was trying to. He couldn’t do it and he got very upset. After round seven Freddie Roach called it off, he said “that’s it, no more”. We were ready to go on. I could have done ten more rounds. I was enjoying myself because I was in there with a legend, James Toney. But the way he conducted himself was no good. I was having a bit of fun in there and he just couldn’t handle it. Threatened to shoot us and everything, told his mate to go get his gun out of the car, he was gonna shoot us. It was like “fuck you, mate”.

SB: He’s always threatening to go get his gun, he’s a strange fella?

DG: “The last thing they said to us as we were leaving, one of his handlers, a good guy said “Man, you’re one tough motherfucker.” I said bring him down under and we’ll feed him to the crocs” And then I ran out of the gym (laughs) “I don’t think I’d like to get on the wrong side of James Toney.”

SB: Well, neither would I

DG: “Although I have got on his bad side once and come out unscathed, I’m quite happy where I am now.”

SB: Thanks a lot for your time today Danny, and best of luck against Anthony Mundine sometime next year.

DG : “No problem at all mate.”