Anthony Mundine has revealed the real motive for writing to Floyd Mayweather. Source: News Limited

No other crossover athlete has achieved what Mundine has across two very different sports: boxing and rugby league. With just a handful of fights left in him, it’s no longer about what Mundine can do in the ring. For Mundine, it’s about what mark he will leave on the sport.

“To be honest, I’ve probably got about three to four more fights left and then I wanna close out and finish on top and finish my legacy,” Mundine told news.com.au.

“I just wanna fight the best and be known as one of the best fighters out there. I wanna solidify that I’m the best all-round athlete to ever lace the gloves up. What I’ve done in two sports — no one’s done it. This is the first [time] and probably the last [time]. I’m at a stage of my career, this is my legacy phase. I just wanna fight the best and pick the right fights that are gonna make me the best money for the best deal to fight the best fighters.”

Most recently Mundine made headlines when he penned a letter to undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr, challenging the unbeaten megastar to face him in the ring. Mayweather never responded, and while many criticised Mundine for his initiative, the letter did exactly what Mundine intended it to do. It got people talking again.

“I didn’t think he’d reply [to the letter],” Mundine confessed. “He doesn’t have to. I knew it was gonna get people talkin’ and I knew that it would put me in the mix. Even if it wasn’t with Mayweather, it could be another big fighter, like [Saul] Alvarez or [Miguel] Cotto — fighters of that calibre. I mean, if we got Mayweather, we hit the lotto but if not, we just wanna get the next big guy.”

Anthony Mundine always knew he was going to be a fighter. Source: News Corp Australia

‘THEY USED TO LAUGH AT ME’

As Tony Mundine began a swift jog around Sydney’s Centennial Park, it was a common sight to see his young son trailing behind him trying his hardest to keep up.

He wasn’t fast enough to run side by side with his champion father — not yet anyway. As his feet hit the ground, a young Anthony followed closely behind on a Pee-Wee 50 motorbike his father had bought him. He wanted to be able to keep up — he too wanted to be a world champion one day.

“I remember a lot of people having respect for him and wanting their photo taken with him — he was pretty popular with the people,” Mundine said.

“I knew he was a fighter and I know that when I was about seven or eight years old that I had my own dream. I loved rugby league, I was playing rugby league since I was about four and I wanted to play for my country, and then I wanted to be a world champ in boxing like my dad.

“I knew I was gonna be a fighter at some point.

“I used to joke around with the boys in the sheds and say, ‘I’m gonna be world champ one day’, and they used to laugh at me. They never believed me but I knew I was destined for it, you know? You get that intuition that you know where you’re going and you know what you wanna become. I came from rugby league, which has such a big culture of drinking and partying, and I never touched a drink because I wanted to become the best that I could be.”

“You’re not measured on your setbacks, you’re measured on how you come back.” Source: News Corp Australia

When he officially made the move from the football field to the boxing ring, a lot of people didn’t think Mundine stood a chance. His confidence in his own ability saw people tune in time and time again with hopes of seeing “The Man” lose a fight. It took 10 fights for it to finally happen — in a world title fight against undefeated German star Sven Ottke. After looking the superior fighter for most of 10 rounds, Mundine dropped his hands and got caught with an overhand right. Even before the referee finished his 10-count, Mundine’s critics were celebrating his supposed demise.

“It was sad to be honest,” Mundine admitted. “Not sad for me — I’m so resilient and so strong and I’ve got a shell that is unbreakable because of my belief and my faith in Allah, nothing bothers me — it’s like water off a duck’s back. Inexperience and having no seasoning let me down, but that’s the good thing about being a champion — you’re not measured on your setbacks, you’re measured on how you come back and I came back with a vengeance and went on to take on Antwun Echols for the vacant championship, and I beat him.

“I knew I was gonna have my detractors. When I left rugby league in 2000 I was on $600,000 a year and that was the top money back then. My dad was saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re making a good earn in footy, you’re one of the best,’ but I just said, ‘I wanna be champ’.

“I was over the politics and over the racism and the boys’ club and the way they treated me. I wanted to be a champion and be my own boss and make my own moves. He thought I was crazy — a lot of people thought I was crazy, but I had one focus and one goal and that was to be the champ, and nothing was gonna stop me.”