Sinky Says
27 February 2009 – Neil Sinclair
There are a number of big fights this month involving Irish boxers.
Paul McCloskey and Brian Magee are defending their British titles, a number of our up and comers are in action as well but Bernard Dunnes clash with Ricardo Cordoba for the WBA super-bantamweight title is the biggest fight involving an Irish boxer in years.
Even though he is an underdog there is no reason why he cant win. Its great that he has home advantage and that he will have seven or eight thousand Irishmen cheering him on. So hell get up for it. He is a confident guy anyway but his training will reflect the significance of the fight and I think he can take it to another level.
When I fought Daniel Santos for the World Title it was before Id even fought for a domestic title so I wasnt really as experienced as I would have liked. I was ok with nerves until I was in the changing room just before the fight when the size of the challenge hit me. I learned from it and when I fought for the British title it was like this is nothing to me nerves-wise because I had already fought at the highest level.
Bernard has already had great experience during his reign as European Champion so that be of great assistance.
Experience means so much. I hurt Santos in the first and he had the experience to take a knee until the count of nine to clear his head and when he got up and the bell rang immediately. It would have been nice to see what would have happened if it was midway through the round as I would have been looking to go in and finish the job.
But he went back to the corner and cleared his head and he came back out in the second and did a job on me. He showed his experience and that is the mark of a true champion. He has proved it time and time again he is still a champion.
Stepping up to World Class is tough, but I dont only hope Bernard can do it, I really think he can as well.
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Im fit again after recovering from a hip injury and am back in training so hopefully Ill get a fight confirmed for sometime in April.
