By Jonny Stapleton

FRANK Maloney concedes he will always be haunted by the death of Irish fight favourite Darren Sutherland and remains distraught at suggestions he was the catalyst behind the middleweights passing.

Olympic Bronze medallist Sutherland was found hanging by the British promoter in the fighter’s flat in Bromley after a suspect suicide in 2009, and Maloney says he still hasn’t full recovered.

As a result of the 2008 Olympic bronze medallists tragic passing and a subsequent heart attack a number of Maloney shows fell through and he considered leaving the fight promotion game.

Heavyweight prospect David Price has re motivated the long time promoter, but he revealed Sutherland enters his thoughts every day.

“The memory of finding him hanging there in that flat will be with me for ever. I’ve been through a hell of a lot in the last three or four years and it has taken its toll on me physically and mentally, and I don’t want to end up a broken, bitter old man. I think there was basically something wrong with him from the start and I wasn’t told about it. There was a background we didn’t know about,” Maloney told the Independent.

Maloney was also distraught and upset with critics his promotional style and their possible affect on Sutherland’s state.

“I saw what my family went through with the Darren Sutherland business. I think that finally made up my mind. I’ve seen some of the obscene remarks on Twitter. I go to an inquest to find out why someone took their life and my professionalism was attacked. Darren’s death preys on my mind a lot. I know why he hanged himself but at the
inquest I felt as if I was  on trial. I couldn’t understand why they weren’t looking for the reason why he did it instead of criticising me.

“It looked like they were trying to say Darren killed himself because of Frank Maloney, which is why I got legal representation. I had nothing to be ashamed of but it was the way they were directing the questions about the contract. Actually it was so one-sided in
Darren’s favour it was unbelievable, which my barrister pointed out.”