Student Sutherland to give masterclass

ONE European champion and two Commonwealth champions went to the scales in defence of their titles but, amid he chaos at The Hub in DCU, fans jostling for a glimpse left no one in any doubt who the star act was at yesterday’s big fight weigh-in when Darren Sutherland, himself a student and former resident on campus, stepped up.

Tonight Sutherland, one of Ireland’s three medallists from the Beijing Olympics, will make his professional debut under lights at The Helix from where Sky Sports will beam an eight-bout programme to millions of viewers, many of whom have waited for the Dubliner’s official inauguration into the paid ranks.

Even Sutherland himself has been taken aback by the amount of interest his first professional fight — a six-round super middleweight contest against Georgi Iliev from Bulgaria — has generated.