Peters: Dunne to shine brighter

BERNARD DUNNE is already a star but after Saturday night he will be a superstar, according to his promoter Brian Peters.

The Meath millionaire businessman is in no doubt about the task ahead of the Dubliner who defends his WBA world super bantamweight title against Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, at the O2.

Poonsawat, 28, has the old style cauliflower ears of a heavyweight but he did not get them from boxing.

Before he took up boxing he was a Muay Thai fighter and was already a veteran of 200 fights before he took up boxing as a profession.

“Without a doubt this is Bernard’s toughest fight,” Peters said. “We all know that Bernard Dunne is a star and on Saturday night he is going to turn into a superstar.

“This guy has 38 fights, 27 knockouts — it is a phenomenal fight. It is rare that you get two fighters in their prime fighting each other at a time like this.

“I believe Bernard Dunne is going to beat this guy. He is going to look sensational doing it. But I also believe that Poonsawat will go on and win another title and we are could see a little bit of a trilogy here.

“Those guys are so good and they are on the top of their game right now. He has nearly more knockouts than Bernard has had fights.

“He is a mandatory challenger. We had to fight this guy. We had no choice in the matter. But Bernard relishes the challenge. It is a very, very tough fight and we are delighted to have it in Ireland.”