Tough-talking Sutherland ready for fighting return after injury nightmare

DARREN SUTHERLAND insisted yesterday he is well on the road to a complete recovery following a career-threatening eye injury sustained during an international contest against Russia at the National Stadium earlier this year.

“Write me off at your peril,” he said. “I know Darren (O’Neill) is the new middleweight sensation but I don’t intend to relinquish my title that easily and, when the senior championships come around next year, I will be ready to defend my title.”

This time last year the 24-year-old student from Dublin City University was taking Irish boxing by storm. Without winning a national senior title — he had put that on the back-burner when he went to Brendan Ingle’s gym in Sheffield as a 16-year-old — he went to the world senior championships in Mianyang City, China and made the quarter-finals through a succession of second round stoppages before losing out to the world and European champion, Korbov Matvey.