Mike Altamura – “We accepted this opportunity with victory in mind”

 
MANY would argue that it is the job of a fighter’s manager to persuade, influence and ultimately sell his fighter to the general public.

 
If that is truly the case, than well respected boxing manager and advisor Mike Altamura has done a great job of selling Ben McCulloch’s chances against Fedor Chudinov in the biggest fight of his career on Friday morning.

 
Despite Australia’s less than impressive record in world title fights this year, Altamura speaks with the confidence of a manager who genuinely believes his fighter will win a version of the super middleweight championship, regardless of what the odds are saying.

 
“What makes this different is that Ben McCulloch is one of Australian boxing’s best kept secrets,” said Altamura in an exclusive interview with Aus-Boxing. “I truly believe in his abilities and stylistic matchup against Fedor,”

 
Unlike most fighters who gradually work their way towards a world title fight, McCulloch, 32, has quite literally been thrust into the limelight. Altamura puts this down to a handful of key factors, most notably the management and promotional teams of other fighters across the country.

 
Nationally televised wins over former amateur star Omar Shaick as well as reigning Australian cruiserweight champion Mark Flanagan – both on the road – has lead Altamura to the conclusion that any kind of matchup against his fighter just might not be worth the risk.

 
With the exception of world-rated super middleweight Rohan Murdock, no other domestic super middleweight has accepted the unenviable assignment that is Ben McCulloch.

 
“It all comes down to the gun-shy managers and promoters,” Altamura explained.

 
“Those victories (over Shaick and Flanagan), combined with the endorsement of champions like Sakio Bika and Anthony Mundine have made many locally weigh-up the risk versus reward factor of facing him,”

 
“In my opinion, you can place Ben right alongside Sakio Bika as the top 168lb fighter in Australia,”

 
Without looking ahead of this Friday’s title challenge in Moscow, Altamura made it known that if McCulloch is holding the interim version of the WBA super middleweight title this weekend, he would not be short of options abroad, with Europe looking like a probable destination for a title defence.

 
“Victory will provide many great opportunities in Europe, particularly as the WBA will order Froch to face him next,”

 
“We ain’t even thinking about a loss,” he said in closing. “We accepted this opportunity with victory in mind,”

 
 
Photo: Edward Johnstone/Sharp Eyes Photography