“I aim for the stars all the time. I want to win a world title”

DARREN SUTHERLAND has finally joined the professional ranks after signing a three-year contract with Frank Maloney, who promised yesterday that the 26-year-old Dubliner would become his fifth world champion.

Long before he qualified for the Olympic Games, Sutherland was expounding his passion for the paid ranks and when he won his Olympic bronze medal in Beijing he confirmed that it was his final appearance in the ring as an amateur.

Yesterday morning “The Dazzler” made the announcement at his alma mater, Dublin City University and he will return to the campus for his first fight which was been tentatively scheduled for the Helix on December 18.