The Morning(ish) After The Night Before

Time for a post-mortem.

The last post prior to the fight was titled 'Bernard Abú' which is ironic, because last night about 9,000 souls in the O2 Arena were saying 'Bernard..Ah...Boo' or something like that. It was a disappointing fight.

I'm sure you saw it - it seemed to us that Bernard controlled, if not dominated, the opening two rounds but when he was drawn into a fight in the third, he was outclassed by Poonsawat who simply had too much power. Bernard was caught with a strong left hook - and don't underestimate the effect of the punch that cut and hurt his ear while on the way down - and he never truly recovered. He should have tied up, he should have spoiled and fouled, but he didn't. The second knockdown was brutal - there was never going to be a repeat of Cordoba Round 5.

Sometimes, when our sports stars lose, we feel cheated but not last night. All indications were that Bernard's training camp went well and he made no excuses on that front in his post-fight interview. There's also no doubt that he gave anything other than 100%. He was just beaten by a better man on the night.

Sport sucks sometimes.

At this point, I don't know if Bernard Dunne's career has been one in which he under- or over-achieved. That's because I don't want it to be over. I don't say that as a selfish fan but as someone who's genuinely trying to think of his best interests. Dunne has been beaten twice, sure, both knockouts, but he hasn't taken a large amount of beatings in recent years (Cordoba aside). He's not like, say Ricky Hatton, who looks punch drunk and should hang up the gloves. Bernard has a lot left to give inside the boxing ring, the only question is where and how.

For me, I'd be happy to see him fight Rendall Munroe for the European Super Bantamweight Title. Munroe would be a 'name' and the fight would also make cash common sense. His only other option, in my opinion, would be to move up to featherweight. At 5'7", Dunne is big at the 122lb limit and the extra bulk in his body could help him. That plan was indicated as most likely by Brian Peters last night, and both he and Bernard say that the Dubliner will fight on. Good. He needs to recover from last night, mentally more than anything else.

The good thing, though, is he will be back.

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The rest of the card, Dunne aside, was quite good. Stephen Haughian was lucky to get a draw, and Tyson Fury wasn't that impressive - an injury to his right-hand may have something to do with that. The Jamie Power-Michael Sweeney fight on the other hand was a cracker. Like Dunne-Poonsawat, it only went three rounds but there wasn't a dull moment and it was a great win for Sweeney, the Ros Muc based Mayo native. I'd love to see the two of them go at it again. Brian Peters, or whoever, should get them to fight in a small-hall show in Power's native Limerick because that's a fight I'm more than willing to watch a lot more of. Should it happen, then I'll see you there.

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A big thanks to all of you who checked out the live blog last night. There were hiccups, and there were issues but it was fun to share our thoughts with you in such an instant way. It's something you'll definitely see more of here at The Almost Daily Sports Blog.

Bernard Abú!!

So D-Day has arrived for Bernard Dunne. There’s not long now until his battle with Poonsawat, and the nerves are high. Both boxers weighed in successfully yesterday (though there was a slight scare as the Thai had to climb the scales three times to come in under the 122lb limit).

We here at The Almost Daily Sports Blog are providing coverage all day, as you can see, and we want you to take part. There’s a few ways that you can do that. Any tweets with the hashtag dunnelive (i.e. #dunnelive) should appear in the console automatically, while you’re also welcome to leave comments at the bottom of this page.

You can also comment in the CoveritLive console itself – for most of you these comments require moderation and this will be provided at various points from this evening, hopefully, and certainly during the fight itself.

So start off NOW by taking the poll, and let us know who you think will win. Feel free to tweet/comment with your predictions for the fight or anything else you want to say. Hopefully you’ll enjoy what we have to offer here later today.

One final thing, to get you in the mood, here’s Newstalk’s commentary from the final round of Dunne v Cordoba in March. If this doesn’t get your pulse racing, nothing will.



C'mon Bernard!!

T'Other Fella

As promised, here's a profile of Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, Bernard Dunne's opponent this Saturday.

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Let's be honest, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym isn't the sort of name that rolls off the tongue. Yet, difficult as it is to pronounce, the Thai's name is on the lips of all Irish boxing fans ahead of Saturday's bout with Bernard Dunne.

The main question, to be honest, is 'Who is Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym?'

Well, that's not an easy question to answer but I'm going to try. Make no mistake, this won't be an easy fight for Dunne. Like Bernard, Poonsawat has only one defeat in his pro career. Boxrec ranks him fifth (three places ahead of the Dubliner) while the WBA have installed him as their mandatory challenger for Bernard's WBA Super Bantamweight belt.

A quick look at his record reveals a lot of truths. Very few of his wins have been against 'name' fighters, while two of his last five fights have been against men with losing records. There are impressive names on his list though. Poonsawat has a win over Somsak Sithchatchawal, a former holder of Dunne's WBA Super Bantamweight crown. That was an eleventh round knockout in March of last year, and it was this win that gave Poonsawat the right to fight for the belt on Saturday. He's also beaten four-weight World Champion Leo Gamez (indeed, Poonsawat finished the Venezuelan's career) while there is one name that Irish fans will recognise - Poonsawat handed Ricardo Cordoba his first pro defeat with a split decision win in 2005.

As I said, he also has one defeat, and that was in his only fight that hasn't taken place in Thailand. Poonsawat travelled to Germany to take on Wladimir Sidorenko in 2006 and was beaten, in a unanimous decision, by the Ukrainian (who himself has a pair of draws with Cordoba).  That defeat seems to have been a key point in Poonsawat's career. Up until then, he was pushed, and he was going for big things. The above wins, the key ones, all came before then (with the exception of the Sithchatchawal fight) and since then, most of his fights have been against fighters with less than stellar records. The bout with Dunne is his toughest since then.

This analysis leads me to make these two points about Poonsawat ahead of Saturday's fight:

1. He's a tough cookie, there's no doubt about it. He's beaten big names, and his record of 27 knockouts from 38 wins shows that he has power to boot.  He's ranked higher than Dunne and this very well may be Dunne's sternest test to boot, Cordoba included.


2. Poonsawat is a fighter looking for a second coming.  His career has stalled (bar one win) for over three years and Saturday is a must-win for him, if he is to get it back on track.  He lost his one fight away from home, against Sidorenko, in Germany and he's already making pre-emptive excuses ahead of his trip to Dublin.

Yes, those are two contradictory points, but when we know so little about Poonsawat, we don't know which is the truth.  He could be a desperate fighter who Dunne is taking on at the right time, or he could break Irish hearts this weekend.  His record shows that he is more than capable of both, but we have no way of knowing which is the truth.  Dunne's camp should be confident that the second point is what will materialise, while at the same time fearing the first.  I certainly am not be confident enough to predict this fight, either way.

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Don't forget our LIVE blog this Saturday.  You can sign up for an email reminder for it below.  It will kick off during the day on Saturday and we'll be blogging from inside the O2 Arena, giving you a flavour of the atmosphere direct from Dublin.

Bernard Dunne...So Far

As part of our preview for Bernard Dunne v Poonsawat, here is a profile of the WBA Super Bantamweight Champion and Ireland’s own, Bernard Dunne.

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The first time I saw Bernard Dunne, professional boxer, was not inside the ring but in a feature on SKY’s much-missed boxing magazine show, Ringside. They profiled Dunne, who at the time had about seven wins from his first seven fights in the United States. The reporter (I think it was Adam Smith) kept up an Irish tradition in that when he went to visit Dunne, he brought him a present from home, in this case the ubiquitous box of teabags. He may have been all the way over in LA, but Bernard was still Irish, that's for sure.

When it comes to inside the ring, we didn’t get Bernard’s fights while he was Stateside, but his reputation was growing online. Aside from a few national amateur finals that had been shown on RTE, he existed only in print. He had gone from Neilstown to California, and was managed by Sugar Ray Leonard, trained by Freddie Roach. He was set for big things...but then all those plans changed.

Leonard decided to leave this contender to start his NBC TV series, The Contender, leaving our Bernard in the lurch. He was without a manager; he was without a firm future. He was forced to come back to Dublin. Though it didn’t seem a good move at the time, this move was to make Bernard Dunne the highest-profile and publicly-available boxer on this island since Barry McGuigan.

Leonard was replaced by Brian Peters, who took advantage of the opportunity.  He, and an unlikely RTE television deal, allowed Bernard the opportunity to base himself in Dublin and fight in front of his home fans. He was to give Irish boxing fans our first taste of the sport on the box. We lapped it up.

There were wins over Jim Betts and a scary last round against Yuri Voronin. Dunne made occasional trips to Germany and Italy but by and large, he built up his fanbase in Dublin, so much so that in November 2006, Dunne was able to lure Esham Pickering to Dublin to defend his European title.

It was a hard-fought and well-won points decision for Dunne, and it was the biggest night in Irish boxing since the days of Steve Collins. In under two years, Dunne had gone from career disaster in America, to winning the European Title in front of 9,000 hometown fans. He was one of the biggest earners in his weight division and it seemed like world class opponents would soon be coming our way.

The next chapter of Bernard’s career gives his critics plenty of ammunition. He fought a pair of relatively obscure European Title contenders, instead of pushing on like Peters’ own website had proclaimed. He won those fights comfortably, before the fateful night against Kiko Martinez. Dunne rushed into the fight – it came just nine weeks after his previous win against Reidar Walstad. The curtains were closing on the Point after this fight, and Martinez very nearly brought the curtains down on Bernard’s dreams in just 86 seconds.

Disaster doesn’t sum up how much of a blow this was. Bernard had been all conquering, he had been unbeaten in 24 fights; now he was Bernard ‘Dunne in One’. A long rehabilitation process was necessary. Dunne took a break, and when he did return his next three fights came against mediocre South American opponents; two of them were even held in Castlebar.

Then came Cordoba.

While Dunne’s career probably didn’t merit a shot at a world title, his earning power did. The fact that he had been on RTE for so many years, and was so well known, meant that a World Title Fight in Dublin could sell thousands of tickets, enough to lure Ricardo Cordoba all the way from Panama. Boxing, as the Don King adage goes, is not about what you earn: it’s about what you negotiate. Peters excelled, allowing Dunne to challenge for a World Title in his home town.

All Dunne had to do now was deliver, and boy did he do just that. Dunne put Cordoba down early in the fight, but then hit the canvas himself, twice, in the fifth round. It was de ja vu, the Martinez fight all over again. Dunne was once again on the seat of his pants, in the same arena where he'd suffered his worst night in boxing.  His supposed weak chin had cursed him again.  Yet Bernard Dunne survived through the fifth round, and the rest of the fight, before knocking Cordoba out in the eleventh. It's a good job he did - Dunne would have lost the fight if the judges were to be asked for their opinions.  But they weren't.

It was one of the most dramatic moments in Irish sports history, and given what had happened that afternoon, that’s saying something.

You can argue about the merits of the WBA as a body, but Dunne is now a legit World Champion, even if he’s not the true cream of his weight division. Unification may come further down the line, but for now Dunne stares into Saturday’s bout with Poonsawat. We’ll look at him, and at Saturday’s event in Dublin, tomorrow night.

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Remember, The Almost Daily Sports Blog will be LIVE blogging all day Saturday for Bernard Dunne v Poonswat and we want YOU to be involved. Sign up below for an email reminder about the event, and be sure to check back here Saturday for all the build up to the fight, and the atmosphere direct from the O2 Arena.

A Venture Into The Unknown

Last March, on the same day that our rugby team won their first Grand Slam in 61 years, another remarkable sporting event occured in Ireland.

Bernard Dunne became WBA Super Bantamweight Champion in one of the best fights you'll ever see, knocking out Panama's Ricardo Cordoba in the 11th Round at Dublin's o2 Arena. I, along with the boss, was lucky to be there and we're going back to the o2 this Saturday for Dunne's first defence, against Poonsawat Kratingdaeng.

We're going to be blogging all day, about the journey up, the food, the cost, the fights and those quirky things that make a day like this memorable (this time I WILL figure out just how Marty Morrissey gets a crowd excited).  Our start time is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. but you can expect the comments to come in long, long before that and then they'll ramp up nearer to and during fight time.

I have some idea about how this will work, but not a massive amount! There will be issues, technical ones, but I hope that we'll be able to convey a sense of what's going on and give you a bit of the atmosphere live from Dublin.  I hope this will be the first of many live blogs here on the site.

To get you in the mood for the fight there'll be plenty of Bernard Dunne related stuff here on The Almost Daily Sports Blog all week. Sign up below if you want an email reminder about the event, and be sure to check back here on Saturday for all the shenanigans!!!

No Munroe For Dunne

RTE are reporting that Bernard Dunne has been told that the first defence of his WBA Super Bantamweight title must be against Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdaeng.



The National Lottery will be disappointed - Poonsawat Kratingdaeng isn't a name likely to fit on the back of a scratchcard so he won't be entering the Winning Streak draw if he gets three stars!

In all seriousness, Poonsawat is a serious operator who has won 38 of his 39 fights, 27 by way of knockout. A lot of his wins are over fighters who are not of Dunne's calibre though but a man who can punch is a man who can punch. Poonsawat has two things in common with Dunne. They both have a win over Panama's Ricardo Cordoba and they both have one defeat. Poonsawat's came at the hands of Wladimir Sidorenko, who normally operates at the Bantamweight division. That fight was Poonsawat's only one to be held outside of his homeland so let's hope (from an Irish point of view) that he's a bad traveller. We still don't know where the fight will take place - the RTE article reports that it's up for purse bid and negotiations are ongoing - but given Dunne's financial clout another night at Dublin's o2 Arena is likely.

The news has repercussions for Rendall Munroe. The European Champion and undisputed best Super Bantamweight in the UK seems a natural future opponent for Bernard (he was at the Cordoba fight in March to scope out the Dubliner). It's a fight that makes cash common sense (to quote the dearly departed Buncey), especially if held in Dublin as Munroe's ticket-selling abilities aren't the best. Munroe must now wait for Bernard, but I've no doubt that it's a fight we'll one day see in Dublin, just as we shall see him take on the tough Thai Poonsawat. After sampling the amazing atmosphere at the Cordoba fight, I know I'll be there for both.

6:22 a.m. Thoughts From An Early Bird

Random Thoughts

Formula One is back. Coverage is fantastic, as I've already pointed out in my last post, but the racing is looking equally hot. There is a New World (Championship) Order and the biggest loser seems to be Lewis Hamilton. The much-beleaguered Team Formerly Known As Honda (Brawn GP) have started on a flyer, as have Williams and Toyota. The common link - a controversial and potentially illegal diffuser at the rear of the car. The cars have cleared scrutineering but an objection from the Red Bull team will be heard next month. I hope that the authorities see sense and ban the diffusers. For my reading, they controvene the spirit of the rules if not their letter. However, the last thing the sport needs is for a winner to lose a race win in a court one month after the event. I'm not sure if what I propose is possible, but Formula One is technical enough as it is and does not need help to exclude a casual fan. Let's hope the FIA agree.

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We've had one week since Ireland won their first Grand Slam in 61 years. Sweet isn't the word. The ending gave a new definition to squeaky bum time but a win's a win and we would have taken it, and then some, two months ago. By and large, little has changed in the team under new coach Declan Kidney, yet everything has changed - nine of the fifteen men who started in Cardiff last Saturday were also in the starting lineup for Ireland's abject performance against Argentina in the 2007 World Cup. So what has changed? What X-Factor does Declan Kidney have that has led him to success wih Ireland now and previously with Munster? His self-effacing manner makes that difficult to figure out, but Kidney's strong backroom staff of Gaffney, Smal et al must have a lot to do with it. Kidney has surrounded himself with the best, and it has paid off. However, those who are hailing Kidney must remember the role Lady Luck played in this Grand Slam win - if Stephen Jones slots over his penalty at the end last Saturday, if England have a few more minutes left after they score their try at Croker or if Scotland's defence holds out like it oh-so-nearly did, we're discussing another 'what-might-have-been' season for Irish rugby. Thankfully, the oval ball bounced our way.

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The rugby wasn't our only sporting success last Saturday. Bernard Dunne's fantastic win over Ricardo Cordoba got a lot of attention, but on any other weekend it would have been the biggest story in town. You may have noticed that I've been nudged to write about this topic - that would be my not so subtle better half who joined me in the magnificent O2 Arena last Saturday night. It was a truly amazing fight, but I do have some comments to make. I've rewatched a lot of the fight between a TV repeat and on RTE.ie - I was right about Jimmy. And the legitimacy of the WBA as a sanctioning body must be called into question when Dunne is not their only Super Bantamweight Champion of the World. But don't let that take away from last Saturday. Dunne done good.

Oh yeah, Marty Morrisey is a great warm-up guy. I kid you not.

Thanks Hellie.

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March Madness has reached the Elite Eight stage. My bracket is ruined but Blake Griffin of Oklahoma has continued his regular season form. Last night's 30 points and 14 boards against Syracuse left the Orange feeling Blue. I just took 9-1 on them to go all the way and I was glad to do so. A kiss of death? Probably.

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Part Three of Qualifying is on. Back to live timing. I won't leave it as long before I return next time.