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PERTH - New WBA light heavyweight world champion Danny Green fulfilled his promise to win a title in his home town last night and immediately turned his sights on settling the score with Anthony Mundine in the same ring.
In a dominant performance at Challenge Stadium, Green beat Croatian Stipe Drews in a drab spectacle, the unanimous points decision testimony to the tall European's unwillingness to go toe-to-toe with the powerful West Australian.
The scores were 118-111, 118-110, 120-108 with the last, from American judge Levi Martinez, having Green on top in every round.
And when the 34-year-old was inevitably asked after the fight about the possibility of a rematch with Mundine, he boasted he was now in a position to demand the fight on his terms.
"I am the official world champion ... it is in my backyard, it is on my terms if he wants it," Green said.
"I promised a long time ago ... to bring the world title to Perth, I promised I would be world champion and I promised I would win it in my own back yard.
"It doesn't get any better than this, until my new baby comes."
With Green's wife Nina in the crowd, despite being due to give birth to their second child today, the victory capped an emotional week and a gradual rebuilding since his defeat by nemesis Mundine last year.
Measuring 6'5" and with prodigious reach, Drews was touted as one of the most awkward opponents in the world, having lost only one of 33 fights before winning the title against Italian Silvio Branco in April.
But round after round of Green attacking and Drews evading meant the result when it came was obvious and deserved.
Warned twice by the Japanese referee for rabbit punching, Drews' nose was bloodied by one of the rare close exchanges - with official Takeshi Shimakawa even urging Drews to punch more at one point.
And so confident was Green of the victory, he ended the fight kissing the tattoo of his daughter Chloe and being chaired inside the ring before the announcement.
"I have been robbed in Germany (when disqualified against Marcus Beyer in 2003), I have been destroyed about my performance in big fights," Green said, also thanking his estranged former trainer and ex-world champion Jeff French.
"I would also like to thank Jeff Fenech, who does not speak to me anymore. But I would not be here ... if I had not been with him in the first place."
With a rematch against Mundine now likely to get most attention, Green could also possibly tempt other major challengers to Australia, including IBF champion Clinton Woods and WBO champion Zsolt Erdei.
Swept away on Sunday were any doubts over Green's legitimacy as a world champion after he was made interim WBC champion at super-middleweight after beating Eric Lucas in Canada four year ago.
"You can take the interim world champion and shove it. I am the official world champion," Green said.
- AAP
