By Melissa Woods
Anthony Mundine hasn't given up on landing a fight with world champion Floyd Mayweather despite the WBA stripping him of his interim super welterweight title.
Mundine was the mandatory challenger to American title-holder Austin Trout but his camp failed to show at a purse bid set up by the WBA in late March.
Mundine, who turns 37 next week and has a record of 43 wins and four losses, said they couldn't find common ground.
"When we were negotiating Trout had no TV and was going to be reliant on fighting in my market and taking the majority of the share," Mundine said.
However since then Trout (24-0), who pounded Australian Frank LoPorto last November, has signed a deal with influential manager Al Haymon and is scheduled to defend against Delvin Rodriguez in Los Angeles on June 2, with the bout telecast on Showtime.
Mundine now finds himself with no interim title, no American management after the expiry of his short-term deal with Cameron Dunkin, and is off-side with the WBA.
He hasn't fought since he became the mandatory challenger with a decision win over Rigoberto Alvarez last October.
But he hasn't given up on landing the biggest fish in five-division world champion Mayweather (43-0).
"I just want to go after Mayweather, I don't want nobody else," Mundine said. "He's the only one on my level.
"I want to fight the best ... I want to build up to the best but I've got to get over there."
He said he needed a credible fight in the US to get his name out there.
"I just need to get over there and showcase my skills against a credible opposition so they start talking about me and I get a name and a following," Mundine said.
He still believed Trout wasn't the right opponent because he'd never fought "a name".
"I offered him twice the amount he'd got in his whole career but he wanted to go to purse bid," Mundine said.
"I'm not going to sell myself short and get robbed by a guy who just barely became champion and then if I beat him I still won't get the credit I deserve."
Mundine said he hoped to sign off on a fight in the next 48 hours but didn't want to reveal any details, except that it wasn't rematches with Danny Green or Daniel Geale.
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (44)