Bob Mirovic: “Sparring with Mike Tyson, that was absolutely an amazing experience!”

Bob Mirovic is a 3 time Australian national heavyweight champion who has fought the likes of Joe Bugner, Nikolai Valuev and has beaten former Australian Heavyweight champion Colin Wilson 5 times to 0.

In this interview we discuss the upcoming Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley rematch. The historical significance of Australian based fighter Alex Leapai’s shot against Wladimir Klitschko for the world heavyweight title and much more.

Robert Brown: Despite having a proud history in the sport, Australia has not been noted as a nation for having world class heavyweights. How important is the emergence of Alex Leapai and Lucas Browne for the growth and recognition of Australian boxing on the world stage?

Bob Mirovic: Australia has had some good performances by heavyweights over the years, but not many and not many have stood out. At this moment Alex Leapai is having the biggest heavyweight fight that any fighter would be honoured to have, The World Heavyweight Title. Lucas Browne is assured to fight for The Commonwealth Heavyweight Title, the same title I have contested on 2 occasions.

Robert Brown: Alex Leapai is an off the board 8 to 1 outsider against Wladimir Klitschko. Are those odds justified, in your opinion does Leapai have any chance to win?

Bob Mirovic: The odds are fair when you consider the success of Wladimir and the lack of experience that Alex has. Alex has a chance as he is a big puncher and he has belief in himself and he will be willing to take the challenge on.

Robert Brown: For the reason being that an Australian based fighter has not fought for a world title in many years mean that Australian stocks will go up around the world regardless of whether Leapai wins or loses on April 26 against Wladimir Klitschko?

Bob Mirovic: Regardless of the result of the fight, Australia has a boxer fighting for the biggest prize in sports and the whole world will be watching.

Robert Brown:Lucas Browne is facing Eric Martel Bahoeli for the Commonwealth and British Heavyweight titles. Given that Browne on paper has faced higher quality competition such as Travis Walker and James Toney — albeit past their prime — and Bahoeli has not faced anyone of that ilk, does that fact give Browne the edge in this fight?

Bob Mirovic: From the recent big fights that Lucas has had, I believe his confidence is high and he believes he can win this fight. I have not seen Bahoeli fight, so I don’t know what his chances are.

Robert Rown: Browne of course has to get through Bahoeli. Assuming he does, Browne has stated publicly that he would like to fight names such as Dereck Chisora and Tyson Fury. In your opinion, is Browne capable of competing at that level; is he ready for such a challenge?

Bob Mirovic: If Browne wins this fight well, then yes I believe he is ready to take those sorts of fighters on.

Robert Brown: Although Australian boxing is healthy on many fronts, is there a cultural problem starting to develop in Australia in particular where star sportsmen from other sports such as, Quade Cooper, Sonny Bill Williams, Paul Gallen can dip their toes in the water between two sports and get on a PPV because their name, and then go back to their main profession, are we disrespecting the sport of boxing by doing this? Is it in danger of becoming a circus, also is this practice disrespecting fighters who have been involved in the sport their whole lives by taking opportunities away from them, or should this practice be welcomed to promote our sport?

Bob Mirovic: On one hand it’s good, as it does give Aussie boxing publicity within our country and the boxers on the undercard get good exposure. I don’t mind these footballers having a boxing match, but they need to give our sport of boxing respect that it deserves and not act and carry on like cucumbers.

Also give respect to the boxers that train hard all the time and get paid petrol money in a tough sport, compared to this league playing wanna be boxers. They should take a back seat out of respect for the boxers that spend years doing it tough for little. What’s crazy is, a footy player says he wants to fight and all of a sudden he’s front page news. The real human interest stories are within these boxers who work hard in an unforgiving sport just to feed their families.

Robert Brown: Bob please tell the readers what you are now up to, are you still involved in the sport?

Bob Mirovic: I’m training kids and adults in boxing and fitness every day. Boxing has been my life for 28 years and I love it, not because I’m aggressive, but because I love the challenge behind the sport of boxing. I love training kids of all ages and adults too. My youngest child I train is 4 years of age and up to people of the age of 70 and they love it.

I am currently organizing to take 15 potential customers to an ECO resort in Fiji Maquai for 7 days to change their lives in a Boot Camp style getaway. Once I have all the details organized I will be posting and advertising this unique event.

Robert Brown: We have the much anticipated rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley coming up, gives us your thoughts and prediction.

Bob Mirovic: I personally believe Pacquiao won the first fight and I am looking forward to the rematch. I know that Bradley has improved and he believes he won the fight and he knows the controversial talk associated with the first fight. He will be prepared to fight hard and prove a point and so will Pacquiao. This rematch will be an old fashioned dust up. Can’t wait.

Robert Brown: If Manny Pacquiao loses this upcoming fight with Timothy Bradley should he retire?

Bob Mirovic:Manny Pacquiao should retire when he wants to. No one has the right to tell Manny Pacquiao when to retire.

Robert Brown: Do you think Marcos Maidana poses any threat to Floyd Mayweather?

Bob Mirovic: Mayweather prepares for his fights with perfection. Maidana proved he is a willing and able warrior when he fights. The only way I see him[Maidana] winning is by being fit enough and willing enough to fight a telephone booth type of brawling fight. The only time that he doesn’t throw a punch is when he is totally out of range, otherwise he needs to be throwing them nonstop to try and confuse Mayweather.

Robert Brown: Give me some of your personal and favorite career highlights.

Bob Mirovic: Winning the Australian Heavyweight Title for the first time, winning it the second time, and also winning it for the third time at age 41. Going over and spending 6 weeks sparring with Mike Tyson, that was absolutely an amazing experience. Voted Forum’s fighter of the year of all Aussie fighters, awarded Fox Sports Fight of the year 2005 when I fought Rob Calloway for the WBF World Heavyweight Title.

Fighting in London for the Commonwealth Heavyweight Title, fighting for the IBF International Title on Danny Green’s rematch with Marcus Beyer. I fought IBF No. 8 Timo Hoffmann and everyone knew I won the fight, even the 6000 German crowd knew I won and gave me a standing ovation. What was unusual was my opponent was German. I fought Sinan Samil Sam former European Heavyweight Champion for the WBC International Title, he was ranked No. 2 in WBC.

Fighting Joe Bugner when I was an inexperienced boxer and only lost on a split points decision, although many thought I had won. Fighting giant Russian Nikolai Valuev on 7 days notice after not trained a day in 8 weeks as I was holidaying in Perth. A challenge is a challenge and I can’t say no!

Fighting Francios Botha for the WBF World Heavyweight Title in South Africa. Having 57 Pro Fights over 26 years and still smart and handsome.