Maloney rules out Dunne-Munroe
09 July 2008 – by Mark Doyle
Promoter Frank Maloney has ruled out the possibility of European super-bantamweight champion Rendall Munroe offering Bernard Dunne a title shot.
Irishman Dunne lost possession of the strap after being stopped by Spains Kiko Martinez in August of last year.
However, Martinez was beaten in his first defence, dropping a majority points decision to Munroe in April.
Dunne is now desperate to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his but has little or no chance of getting to Munroe, according to Maloney.
“We are not prepared to box Dunne because of our busy schedule,” he told the Irish Independent on Tuesday.
“There is talk of a return fight in the autumn with Kiko Martinez, who lost his title to Rendall four months ago.
In any event, we are under contract to Sky Sports and Dunne is with RTE so there is a clash of interests there.”
Unsurprisingly, Dunne is less than pleased with Maloneys stance, and feels that he is being unfairly pushed out of the title picture.
“This is effectively a snub as I’ve been aware for a while that Munroe is not keen to give me a shot at his title, he fumed.
My team will just have to try and force their hand and wait for the European Boxing Union to make me the mandatory challenger. I really want that title back. It belongs in Dublin, where I won it.”
Dunne, who made a winning return to the ring following the Martinez stoppage with a points win over Felix Machado in April, will be seeking to strengthen his claims for a European title shot when he takes on Damian Marchiano in Dublin this weekend.
