Comeback kid Dunne facing into the dangerous unknown

IT WAS always going to be a difficult assignment but Bernard Dunne’s third comeback fight at Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar tonight took on a new dimension when his original opponent, Mexican Eduardo Garcia, injured himself in training and Cristian Facio was called up as a replacement.

No boxer likes it when an opponent is replaced in the lead up to an important fight — this one has been billed by Promoter Brian Peters as a world title eliminator — and it becomes more dangerous when a fighter with genuine pedigree steps in to fill the breach.

Facio, from Uruguay, is the reigning WBC Latino champion at bantamweight, and is ahead of Dunne in the world rankings — and that’s a first for the Dubliner.

The Mexico City-based sanctioning body lists Faccio at number 11 while Dunne, at super-bantamweight, is rated 24th.

Add to that a record that shows 12 wins inside the distance and it is easy to realise the danger that lurks in the long grass for Dunne, who will be having his third fight since losing his European title to Kiko Martinez just over a year ago.

“I thought the Garcia fight was the perfect fight to make a statement with — but there’s nothing can be done about it now and the show must go on,” Dunne said.

“The important thing is not to allow myself to get distracted.

“Obviously we are very close to some sort of title shot next year, but the focus has been drilled in to me ahead of this fight and this fight is all I’m thinking of right now.

“Faccio is well respected and highly rated, but we don’t really know a whole lot about him, so I can’t make any judgments on him. I was preparing for one type of fighter and it’s never ideal to have to change your preparations so late in the build-up, but at least Faccio doesn’t seem to be too different from Garcia physically, so that’s something for me to be thankful for.

“Garcia, though, was the name, face and style we were focusing on, but now we have just got to move forward.

“It’s a bit of a nuisance more than anything else, but that’s professional boxing and there is not a whole lot we can do about it.”

Faccio, a 25-year-old from Salto, has a record of 16 wins and three defeats. His most recent loss was in June when he unsuccessfully challenged Hozumi Hasegawa for the WBC bantamweight title in Tokyo.

He recovered quickly from that setback and it took him less than one round to dispose of Darli Goncalves Pires in Salto less than a fortnight ago which would indicate that he comes here in pretty good nick. And he insisted he knows how to deal with Bernard Dunne.

“I’ve seen Bernard Dunne’s defeat to Martinez so I know he can be hit and hurt — and I’m a very big puncher and if I catch Dunne it will be like the Martinez fight all over again,” he said.

Dunne knows that he cannot afford to lose another fight if he is to realise his dream of a shot at a world title.

With that in mind, he will be keeping a close watch on next Friday night’s super-bantamweight unification fight between the IBF champion, Steve Molitor, and WBA champion, Celestino Caballero, in Canada.

He knows Mollitor — Dunne beat him in an amateur international against Canada in the National Stadium back in 1997 — and Brian Peters has already had talks with the Caballero camp with a view to setting something up, so the chances of the winner making a voluntary defence against Dunne are looking good if Dunne can stay on track tonight.

“All the talk about world title fights will mean nothing if I slip up on this one,” Dunne said. “Faccio has to be respected.

“He’s only just fought for the world title himself and is world rated, he has mixed in some good company and there is no doubt he can bang as well, his record proves that.”

* The Bernard Dunne fight will be televised live on RTÉ 2 while, on a bonanza night for Irish boxing fans, TG4 will televise the finals of the European Championships from Liverpool live.