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Bernard Dunne to dedicate world title defense to Darren Sutherland

Victory over Thailand’s Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym the best tribute for champ

By
CATHAL DERVAN
,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Thursday, September 24, 2009, 9:17 AM
Updated Thursday, September 24, 2009, 9:50 AM
Read more: Darren Sutherland


Bernard Dunne

Irish WBA super bantamweight world champion Bernard Dunne wants to dedicate the first defense of his WBA belt to the late Darren Sutherland at the O2 Arena on Saturday night -- with a victory over Thailand’s Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym a fitting tribute.

Dunne knows that everyone attending the fight will think of Sutherland, buried in Navan on Monday, when Irish boxing gets back to business this weekend.

Even his thoughts will turn to Sutherland as he prepares for a tough challenge against the mandatory challenger from the Far-East.

 “The news of Darren’s death last week was shocking, absolutely shocking,” Dunne said. “My stomach was doing knots, it was churning.

“I wouldn’t have been personal friends with Darren, I’d have known him only through boxing, but to see someone that talented in life never mind sport die so young was just tragic and shocking.

“It was all ahead of him, inside and outside the ring. That’s what made it so hard to believe when I caught up with a couple of missed calls at around 9 p.m. on Monday night and the story started to unfold.

“To be honest he had every opportunity to win everything in professional boxing. He really did. He was good enough to rule the world. That’s for sure.

“Darren has to be in everybody’s thoughts at the O2, I know he will be in mine. It’s such a sad story but we have to look after the family now.”

Cavan’s Andy Murray is out of the big Dublin show after breaking a collarbone in training for his European Union lightweight title defense against Italian Pasquale Di Silvio.

“I’m gutted as it would have been a huge opportunity for me,” said the unbeaten 27-year-old. “Training had been going really well and as luck would have it the break happened in my last sparring session for the fight.

“I had hurt it a few days earlier but you always have aches and pains in training and you shrug them off. It’s quite painful at the moment but the doctors said that if it heals right I should be ready to start training again in six weeks so hopefully I won’t be out too long.”

Taylor Wins

KATIE Taylor ruled the continent again when her 38th straight win saw her retain her European lightweight title with an 11-0 win over Meryem Aslan Zeybek of Turkey in Sunday’s final in the Ukraine.

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Bernard Dunne to dedicate world title defense to Darren Sutherland | Irish Sport | IrishCentral


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