Dunne the hard way

It wasn't just the Irish rugby team who went nuclear on Saturday. After a few years of threatening both potential excellence and mediocrity, Bernard Dunne became a bonafide world champ in a cracking scrap with Ricardo Cordoba in the O2 arena. We said here Friday we'd little enough faith in the man as a boxer but he came up with the shots when he needed them sure enough, stopping Cordoba with a blistering combo of hits in the eleventh round.

He needed it too. Cos for long spells of a thriller, Cordoba edged it. Dunne looked lively early on and knocked the Panamanian in the third round but Cordoba had a class and ease of movement that allowed him take control and get hits in without getting hit himself. He pummelled Dunne in the fifth, had the Dubliner on the canvas twice and on the edge of being stopped; in truth, another ten seconds in round five and the ref was stepping in with Dunne on the ropes and unable to fight back.

But Dunne hung on, settled and though Cordoba looked a tad sharper, he was still throwing punches in the second last round. Dunne - four rounds behind on the judges scorecards it emerged afterwards (and boy was Jumpthefence glad that fact came out, cos listening to the bias of Jimmy McGee and Dave McAuley, you'd think the Irishman was in total control - is there any chance RTE could get someone without the green blinkers to analyse a fight as it's going on, maybe have Mick Dowling ringside for some proper information?) - needed something and he delivered big time. A couple of decent smacks landed on Cordoba and the legs buckled. The champ was brave and got up a couple of times but the jig was up well before the ref stopped things.

Dunne had proven a bit of heart can go a long way. He'd gotten up off the canvas to win; something he needed after Martinez. He'd shown some punching power himself to stop a serious fighter. It's the r word again - no, not recession, redemption. Onwards and upwards, it'll be interesting to see what Dunne does from here.

World title fight to Ireland - Dunne

So we're getting a world title match-up in Ireland (something we predicted earlier this month folks!) and not before time. It seems an age since we had the Steve Collins fights with the likes of Eubank/ Benn or even Wayne McCullough's brawls with various tough cookies to look forward to. Now we've got Bernard Dunne bringing some hope, after lining up a frankly mouth-watering match-up with the very highly-rated Panamanian Ricardo Cordoba, the current WBA champ.

Jumpthefence has been calling Bernard Dunne to be more ambitious with his choice of fights for a time but can have no complaints here. Cordoba is the real deal (34-1-2) at just 24 years old, a guy who's beaten someone like Celestino Cabellero can't be sniffed at. Cordoba is a southpaw, technically excellent, won't be throwing barrages of punches but tends to make his punches count. He ain't a Kiko Martinez for punchiing power so Dunne ought have no worries about being knocked out cold.

We'd expect a 12-rounder here, a belter of a technical fight for the boxing connoisseur rather than a scrap. Dunne will need to be at his best to get anything from this, but then again, isn't that the way it ought to be?

Sutherland begins tough pro road

Pro-boxing here in Ireland is a strange little world. Darren Sutherland takes his first baby steps into it tonight and you'd have to wonder just where the road's likely to take him (along with other Olympic medallists like Kenny Egan - who seems to be the new celeb du jour). Sutherland's a confident yet likeable character with the sort of back story and wit that sportswriters tend to love but that won't be much help when he steps into the pro ring for the first time at the age of 26.
For all the hype about Bernard Dunne, and by golly there is hype whenever the man struts into the ring, he's still making his way fighting mainly journeymen and no-hopers and there's something cringeworthy about it when we see Mick Dowling shifting uncomfortably on RTE every time he's asked to talk Dunne up after a fight. (For what it's worth, Jumpthefence rates Andy Lee as our one genuine world title hope at the moment.) Sutherland is heading into a dangerous enough division where he'll most likely have to face the likes of Lee or John Duddy before long if he's to make a name for himself. Jumpthefence hopes that Sutherland at least has a real go at the pro game and he doesn't find himself drifting around the scene trying to drum up a show for nothing fights a few years down the line.
Other bits of interest: So sad to see Evander Holyfield still in the ring - Tribune interview with him here