Matty Johns has opened up on his close friendship with controversial boxer and former NRL star Anthony Mundine as the 43-year-old prepares for his Friday night bout with Jeff Horn.
Johns regularly found himself head-to-head with Mundine, a fellow five-eighth, and famously leapfrogged him for an Australian jersey in the late 1990s.
It was the moment Mundine’s patience with the NRL ended.
In a text message to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield in 2015, Mundine confirmed he was still frustrated at missing out on a chance to play for Australia.
“Tell the people I was robbed of Australian Jersey! Chris Anderson said I never got picked cause of my off-field characteristics??? Wtf? I never done nothing but spoke my mind & be confident! That’s what made me leave league at my prime when Daley and Fittler were injured and everyone was saying here’s my chance … and they picked Matthew Johns!”
You’d be forgiven if those comments led you to believe there was still some murky water between the pair, but the former Newcastle and Cronulla star had nothing but praise for his former on-field rival.
He lauded the Sydney product’s incredible achievements in his short rugby league career and revealed the moment they became close mates.
“Choc was an unbelievable athlete. If you sat back on him and let him go he’d just carve you up. You had to race up on him,” Johns said on Triple M’s The Grill Team Thursday morning.
“But he wasn’t a big talker. He’d talk a lot going into a game to try and set up the big confrontation — to test you and to put you off your game.
“But once you got out there he was the guy you’d have a bit of a joke with. He might have read something you said throughout the week and give you a wink before the game. He’s been playing since he was playing professional sport since 18 years of age, 25 years. That’s a lot of miles on the clock.”
The veteran sportscaster squashed any speculation of an ongoing feud with Mundine, delving into his friendship with the boxer after spending time with him at an Indigenous event with his brother Andrew.
In a surprising passing comment, the 47-year-old admitted he was picked over Mundine when “I maybe shouldn’t have been”.
“Myself and Andrew got invited to National Aboriginal Week in Wellington, Aaron Peterson and Christine Anu were there as well as a lot of Indigenous leaders,” he said. “I got to know Choc there. We became good mates from that time on, regardless of the rivalries, regardless of me being picked in front of him when at times I maybe shouldn’t have been.
“We’ve always been good mates.”
Johns, who works as a host at Triple M and Fox, has since travelled to support Mundine during big fights like his Danny Green rematch in 2017.
‘I THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE THE END’: MUNDINE
A chronic hip injury left Anthony Mundine so powerless on his left side, the veteran boxer says he couldn’t even reach down to tie his shoelaces. Mundine says despite the problem leaving him unable to swivel from his left hip, he put off surgery fearful it would end his career.
The 43-year-old finally had the hip operated on in the months before his 2017 fight against Danny Green.
While he would lose that bout to his long-time rival, Mundine’s last fight was a knockout victory over Tommy Browne in Sydney in January.
“I was fighting on one leg for years and I was scared to get a surgery because I thought that would be the end,” Mundine said.
“I’ve got the surgery, now I’m a million bucks.
“With the Green fight I was 80 per cent, with the last fight against Browne I was 90 per cent and now I’m 95 per cent.” Mundine firmly believes he’s in the best shape he’s been in for years heading into Friday’s bout with former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn. The pair faced off at a press conference in Brisbane’s CBD on Wednesday, with Mundine repeating his assertion Horn’s camp are too focused on the former rugby league player’s age rather than his ability.
“I’m more dangerous now because I’m fit. I’ve got no injury. I’m not impaired with my hip,” he said.
“I wanna bring back the old Choc. You remember the old Choc that would throw punches in bunches and be very explosive andaggressive at times? “You’re going to see some of that. I’m gonna catch him … and when I catch him I’m gonna jump on him like a tiger.”
— with AAP
