Cool Dunne plans to box clever

BERNARD DUNNE and Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym met face to face for the first time in Dublin on Wednesday and now their respective handlers, Harry Hawkins and Niwat Laosuwannawat, have gone head-to-head in advance of tomorrow night’s world title defence at the O2 in Dublin.

Laosuwannawat is the man who managed the great Khaosai Galaxy to a remarkable seven-year reign as WBA world super-flyweight champion and while he insists that it might be impossible for anyone to emulate Galaxy, he feels that tonight’s challenger for Bernard Dunne’s WBA world super bantam weight belt may go close.

“My ambition is to emulate Khaosai,” Kratingdaenggym said. “He is the ultimate boxing hero in Thailand and I think that someday I could go on to be as great as him but, first things first, I need to beat Bernard Dunne.”

Laosuwanwat said Kratingdaenggy may have a lot of the characteristics of Galaxy but he is not prepared to make comparisons just yet.

“In terms of his boxing he is the complete package but whether or not he ultimately goes on to become as big a star as Galaxy depends on a lot of outside-the-ring factors as well,” he said.

“I think the fight with Dunne will be another great bout but I can guarantee you that Dunne has never been in the ring with someone as strong as Poonsawat before.”

Harry Hawkins was one of just a handful of experts who predicted that Bernard Dunne would strip the title from Ricardo Cordoba last March but he insists this will be a totally different fight.

“This kid’s a little bull, he keeps coming in and, from that point of view, it will be a different fight to the Cordoba fight,” he said. “If Bernard just keeps his head level, we are going to outbox this guy. Believe me, Bernard is hitting very hard with the left hook and if this guy thinks he can walk straight through Bernard’s punches, I don’t believe it.

“We have our plan and Bernard knows exactly what that is. The past week has been about getting everything through his head. He is totally focused, he is listening to every word, he has done everything asked of him. Mentally he is in fantastic shape.”

While Dunne is not making any predictions, insisting that he had trained to go 12 rounds, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym is sticking to his guns as regards a stoppage – he has 27 of those on his record.

“I believe, I really do, that I will knock Bernard Dunne out inside seven rounds,” he said. “I watched his fight with Ricardo Cordoba and I’m not sure that Cordoba was in the best of shape for that fight. I fought him myself and I know that he’s not an easy guy to knock down, so either he came in to that fight in poor condition or else Dunne must be a very big puncher.”

Meanwhile heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury will be looking for a share of the limelight on the undercard. The unbeaten Manchester-based heavyweight will be making his Dublin debut.

Last year he lost his bid for a place on the Irish team for the Beijing Olympics when he failed to produce the required documentation in time for the national championships.

“I’m very proud of my Irish roots so to fight live on terrestrial TV in Ireland is something I’m very excited about,” he said. “I would have loved to fight for the Irish heavyweight title on the card but I can’t seem to get any of these other Irish heavyweights in the ring.”

He is already familiar to Irish viewers following a guest appearance on the celebrity boxing series Charity Lord of the Rings last month but the 6’9” 21-year-old is planning to make a bigger impression at The O2 where he has been matched with Tomas Mrazek, the Czech heavyweight who floored former British champ Michael Holden en route to a draw in his last outing.

“I was ringside when Bernard Dunne won the title in March and the atmosphere that night was sensational,” Fury said. “The O2 is a terrific arena for boxing, it’s like being in the Coliseum and I can’t wait to walk out in front of that crowd and do a real number on Mrazek.”