29 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

Rising super-middleweight star Darren Sutherland is being pushed towards a mouth-watering domestic dust-up with Jim Rock.

Sutherlands promoter, Frank Maloney, has been thrilled by the way in which his undefeated charge, who is now 3-0, has taken to life in the paid ranks.

Indeed, the Londoner believes that Sutherland is almost ready to challenge for a major belt and has set his sights on the evergreen Rock, who has won Irish titles at four different weights.

“The progress Darren has made with his trainer Brian Lawrence is astonishing, and he could be ready for a title later this year, Maloney enthused.

“When he turned professional in December, I thought it would be 18 months before he’d be ready, but there is no stopping him.

“There are some good Irish-Americans who could challenge him for the all-Ireland title, but the opponent I would like is Jim Rock.

It would be a great fight between two Dubliners who would be so fired up because of local bragging rights.”

Sutherland is to take on Gennadiy Rasalev at York Hall on Monday and, provided he overcomes that hurdles, will box again on the undercard of the Tony Jeffries-headlined bill in Sunderland ten days later.

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10 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym has set his sights on a super-bantamweight showdown with Bernard Dunne and is willing to give up home advantage to make the fight happen.

Dunne claimed the WBA regular title by stopping Ricardo Cordoba in a scintillating bout at the O2 in March.

However, Kratingdaenggym is the WBAs interim titleholder, while the picture is muddied further by the fact that Celestino Caballero is the organisations super champion.

Kratingdaenggym, though, believes himself the true champion and is willing to prove as much by taking on Dunne in Dublin.

“I am aware there are three champions in the WBA Division, but I think I am the number one,” the Thai fighter said. “Now I am just waiting for the opportunity to prove it.

“We haven’t talked with Bernard Dunne or his manager yet. But I would fight him anywhere.

“With my condition right now, I can go fight anywhere in the world. Of course, fighting in Ireland would give Dunne a big advantage.

However, I am very confident that I could beat him if he doesnt try to escape a fight against me.

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22 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

Andy Lee has revealed that he intends to have two more fights before the end of the year, the second of which should be in Ireland.

The Limerick native racked up the 18th victory of his 19-fight professional career by comfortably outpointing Oleg Fedotovs over six rounds on the undercard of Wladimir Klitchskos world title fight with Ruslan Chagaev in Germany earlier this month.

Despite coming close to a stoppage win, dropping his opponent in the final round, Lee was not wholly convinced by his performance and intends to be fairly active for the rest of the year before stepping up his bid for a middleweight title shot in 2010.

“I hope to fight in the USA in August and, fingers crossed, I can then get back to Ireland for a fight before Christmas,” stated the Limerick native. 22 June

Turning to his performance against Fedotovs, Lee added: “Maybe I’m a bit too harsh on myself but I’m always trying to improve,” said Lee.

“I felt I was a bit conservative on Saturday night and maybe I could have moved in for the kill sooner.

“I had to maintain a high level of concentration against him, as he was hanging in there all the way through and he was very strong.

“I felt I wasn’t at my best, but I wasn’t at my worst either.”

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10 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

The proposed light-middleweight showdown between reigning Irish champion Neil Sinclair and John Duddy has yet to be finalised.

According to Duddys manager, Craig Hamilton, the two parties have yet to reach agreement on either the split or the venue, with the challenger hoping that his first outing since a shock points defeat by Billy Lyell will be in his hometown of Derry.

As a result, there is still every chance that Duddys next outing will in New York, against Hector Camacho.

However, Hamilton remains hopeful that a deal can be made with Team Sinclair.

It’s not all about money but professional fighters fight for money and at the moment there is plenty of scope for negotiation, Hamilton is quoted as saying by The Belfast Telegraph.

But the fight with Sinclair is one that I like and it’s one that John wants, and, of course, if it was in Derry that would be very appealing, added Hamilton.

This is boxing and we have to do the best for John. So we’ll see what happens over the next few days.

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26 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

Darren Sutherland plans to speed up his march towards the upper echelons of the super-middleweight division by fighting twice in the space of ten days.

The former amateur star, who has won his first three professional bouts, will take on Ukrainian Gennadiy Rasalev in a six-rounder at the York Hall on Tuesday.

Should Dazzler come through that contest unscathed, he will then make an appearance on the Tony Jeffries-headlined card at Sunderlands Seaburn Centre on June 10.

Sutherlands promoter, Frank Maloney, is in no doubt that Sutherland is up to the task of fighting twice in such a short space of time and believes that it will only boost the young Irishmans burgeoning popularity in England.

“The York Hall crowd is one of the most knowledgeable in the world and they know a good fighter when they see one, the veteran promoter mused. “I firmly believe that they will take to Darren and his popularity will quickly gain momentum in England.

“Every time I speak to Darren’s trainer Brian Lawrence he talks about the non-stop improvement.

“You improve most from ring action and two fights in ten days will bring Darren on no end. I’m proud to say there has been no Olympian busier than him and Tony Jeffries this year.

“I can’t believe that the two real Olympians are part of the FTM team.”

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09 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

Paul McCloskey will have to travel to Paris to fight former world champion Souleymane Mbaye for the vacant European light-welterweight title.

Team McCloskey had been hoping to secure home advantage for their man but the Dungiven natives manager and trainer, John Breen, insisted that they will have no trouble in taking on Mbaye in his own backyard.

They made us a very, very good offer to go to France but Pauls one of those guys who has no problems going into the lions den, Breen explained.

They could fight in Mbayes front room as far as Im concerned and Paul would still beat him. Ive said all along hes a World Champion in the making and hell prove that again that winning a European title on the road.

Paul beat Colin Lynes in his back yard to win the British title at a weeks notice and his first defence was on the road too against Dean Harrison in Liverpool and he knocked him out so its not an issue for him.

Hes in good shape because weve known for a while now that the fight was going to happen in early July but now that the venue and an exact date has been set we have something to focus on.

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10 June 2009 – By Mark Doyle

John Duddys next outing is likely to be against either Neil Sinclair or Hector Camacho.

Derry native Duddy lost his undefeated record when he surprisingly dropped a split-decision to Billy Lyell in April.

His hopes of a world title fight now in tatters, Duddy, who has been based in New York for his entire professional career, is now considering returning to Ireland to rebuild his reputation.

A bout with the new Irish light-middleweight champion, Neil Sinclair, is now being heavily mooted and Burns would certainly like to see the fight made.

“A Duddy-Sinclair fight would be the one everyone involved in Irish boxing would want to see but I am aware that there has been talk about Camacho,” Burns is quoted as saying in the Irish Daily Mirror.

“Fighting in Ireland would be an ideal way for John to bounce back from the first defeat of his career last time out.”

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