Danny Green speaks on past and future of boxing during South Bunbury Football Club’s President’s Lunch

Former champion boxer Danny Green reflected on life, what boxing means to him and the future of the sport during a luncheon for avid fans in Bunbury at the weekend. He was the special guest speaker at South Bunbury Football Club’s President’s Lunch on Sunday, where guests asked questions on his career and what lies ahead. Speaking with commentator Alan Crane, Green spoke of the impact football clubs had on him growing up, with his brother being a premiership-winning footballer for Claremont in 1993 and 1996. “Football clubs bring people together, it’s about community, it’s about relationships ... it’s about building a community for our kids and having somebody the kids can go to, to feel safe,” he said. “I wasn’t very good at footy at all — glad I stuck to fighting.” Many in the crowd quizzed Green on if he would ever return to the ring after Anthony Mundine called him out a few days earlier for one last fight while both were supporting WA boxer Alex Winwood at an event on August 31. He said he had always had “a great bit of respect” for Mundine. “He’s a first-grade rugby league premiership player, I think he’s one of the greatest cross-over athletes the country’s had ... the only thing I disagree with him on is he thinks he’s a better fighter,” Green said. “I’d love to fight again, I still keep in good nick, I train a lot ... but my father has passed away now and we had a deal that after a certain point in my life I won’t fight again, I can’t change that. “But if it happens in a carpark, that’s a different story.” Green also spoke on the prospect of his son fighting Mundine’s son, but only for top-dollar prize money. “My son’s nearly 17, he’s going to do what he wants to do,” he said. “I’m his trainer but I’m his father first, but I won’t let him fight until he’s 18. “If our boys fight each other it’ll be a big deal and the boys will get paid, I said to him ‘why would you fight one guy for two-bucks and not fight the other for $100?’” Green was supported by long-time friend Tom Dillon and John Hughes, an Irish-born Bunbury boxer who was one of his first opponents and who Green has kept in touch with nearly three decades later. The luncheon also featured an auction of memorabilia with proceeds going towards Ronald McDonald House Bunbury.