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CATHAL DERVAN

Irish boxer Bernard Dunne's loss in the ring is no loss in the real world

By
Cathal Dervan

Published Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 12:17 PM
Updated Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 12:28 PM

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Irish boxer Bernard Dunne's loss in the ring is no loss in the real world | Irish Sport | IrishCentral




Ireland's Bernard Dunne on the canvas after being knocked down Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym.
Photo by AP

Midway through the press conference in the Green Room at the O2 Arena late on Saturday night, the questions became as meaningless as the recriminations that followed.

The new WBA super-bantamweight champion of the world Poonsawat  Kratingdaenggym sat in front of us, the smile on his face as wide as the Liffey running freely outside the window.

Poonsawat had just silenced some 10,000 Irish voices and raised new doubts about Bernard Dunne’s chin in the process as he took two full rounds and then two minutes and 57 seconds to depose of our own world champion.

Dunne was already on his way to Beaumont Hospital’s emergency ward to be checked out after he was knocked-out by the time Poonsawat and promoter Brian Peters sat down in front of the Irish media.

Naturally the early questions all surrounded the health of Dunne, who had just taken one hell of a hammering in his first and only defense of the world title he had won so spectacularly in the same arena six months earlier.

Peters -- a neighbor of mine in Dunshaughlin for what it’s worth -- assured us that all was well with his fighter despite the presence of the medics in the ring at the end of the contest, and his subsequent transfer to hospital.

Then the questions toughened up. Was it right to take a fight against such a classy opponent for Dunne’s first night out as world champion?

Was there any way back for the first Irish champion to surrender his world crown on home soil?

Could Dunne bounce back from this defeat as he had bounced back from a sensational knock-out at the hands of Kiko Martinez from Spain in a European title defense some six fights earlier?

Would Dunne ever be seen in a boxing ring again, or would he now take up the offer of life as a fireman in the Dublin fire service?

Peters has been around boxing long enough to know how it works. His man had fought valiantly to win the world title last March, his man had the nation behind him going into a fight on Saturday night which, in hindsight, he was never going to win.

Poonsawat, known as the Little Tank back home in Thailand, had been waiting for 14 months as the mandatory challenger to get his crack at the title.

When the fight was first presented to Peters by the WBA the choice was simple -- take it or relinquish the crown.

The Meath promoter, to be fair to him, did offer both scenarios to his man.

“Bernard was never going to surrender his title just to protect himself, he’d have fought Mike Tyson himself if they’d made him,” revealed Peters and we all nodded our heads in agreement.

Nearly half an hour into the press conference, we had heard from Peters and we had heard from the proud new champion when the talk turned negative and the real questions were asked of Dunne’s future as a professional fighter.

Even the possibility of a move up to featherweight was discussed, such was the battering that our man had received in that dramatic and conclusive third round when not one but three punches of real power floored the hometown hero.

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Irish boxer Bernard Dunne's loss in the ring is no loss in the real world | Irish Sport | IrishCentral


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