Dunne determined to tame Thai

HE went to the gates of hell to win it and Bernard Dunne is not prepared to even consider relinquishing his WBA world super bantamweight belt in his first defence against Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym from Thailand when they touch gloves at the O2 on Dublin’s Dockside tonight.

The fight has all the ingredients for another thriller and one has to admit that if this fight was being staged outside Ireland, then the challenger would be the red hot favourite but home advantage can swing this for the Dubliner, as it did last March when he went in against Ricardo Cordoba as the rank outsider.

Poonsawat will come forward for all 12 rounds tonight and should provide Dunne with a perfect target for his trademark left hook which his trainer, Harry Hawkins, insists is stronger than ever before.

But he must avoid getting involved in another slugfest as that would play right into the street-fighting hands of Poonsawat, though it is unlikely that he will be able to keep the Thai at bay all night.

Dunne has put all memories of the Cordoba thriller behind him going into tonight’s fight for his opponent bears no resemblance to the Panamanian southpaw.

After 10 years and some 200 fights in the Muay Thai discipline, he donned boxing gloves at 21 and four months later he beat Lee Escobido from the Philippines for the vacant Pan-Asian bantamweight title which he defended for seven years.

After 39 fights, his only loss was to tough Romanian Wladimir Sidorenko three years ago. He outpointed Ricardo Cordoba, who Dunne later beat for the world title, and has never been on the floor. With 27 KOs on his record, he has had almost as many knockouts as Dunne has had fights.

Dunne, whose only loss from 29 fights was that dramatic first round stoppage by Kiko Martinez in Dublin two years ago, knows he faces a formidable challenge tonight.

“You cannot build up a record like his without it being obvious that you are a very, very good and very, very talented fighter,” he said.

“Style-wise, he’s not like anybody, to be honest. For a short guy, he is a clever boxer, but he is aggressive and tends to want to push forward.

“I am going to have a reach advantage so he is going to be in my range sooner that I am in his range and we are hoping to capitalise on that.

“I have pushed my body beyond the limits to prepare. It’s been a torment but I’ve come through it. At times it has literally been sickening and I’ve wondered how I put myself through some of the physical work we’ve done. I haven’t endured what I’ve been through for the past 13 weeks just to hand my belt over.”

Poonsawat has been waiting for this fight for well over a year and has prepared well. While Dunne was resting he had back-to-back wins over Carlos Lopez (KO Rd 4) for the interim WBA title and Rafael Hernandez (TKO Rd 9) in April and he has no doubt he can end Dunne’s reign.

“I have been waiting for this chance for a very long time and I am very determined to finally get what I deserve – the world title,” he said.

“I believe I will knock Bernard Dunne out inside seven rounds.”

This is a fight that should go the 12 rounds and, if it does, Dunne looks the likely winner having prepared to go the distance against a man who appears hell bent on a short route victory.

There was a minor scare at yesterday evening’s weigh-in when Poonsawat had to make a couple of visits to the scales before weighing in on the exact weight of 9 st 10 lbs with Dunne half a pound under the limit.

Meanwhile, 6’9” heavyweight, Tyson Furey, arrived late for the weigh-in as his wife had given birth to their first baby earlier in the day.