BOXING DARREN SUTHERLAND: SO, THE promise of another boxing journey after a summer of adventure in the Workers Gym. This time Darren Sutherland begins his pilgrimage splayed in the corner of one of his long-time haunts, the cafeteria at Dublin City University.
The "Dazzler" today is a little less effervescent and those Christmas-light twinkles from the eyes and smile are lower than the wattage of Beijing. His first professional fight tomorrow night in the DCU Sports Hall, now accelerates towards him.
Sutherland, who according to his clever talking promoter, Frank Maloney, will be bigger than the Beatles, has the black hat pulled down to just above his dark eyebrows with the fight-face hardening towards what it might look like tomorrow night. The articulate confidence is still with him after four weeks in London training as a professional, sparring like a professional and missing all of the luxuries that a professional must forego.
Here he is, Ireland's Olympic bronze medallist, declaring in front of dozens of chattering, lunch-eating students that his ambition has always been to be a professional world champion.
They too sense the rush of ambition and Sutherland's infectious, almost reckless enthusiasm for moving on, charging towards an Irish super middleweight title at the end of next year and then, of course, along the world path that both the sure-footed Bernard Dunne and Andy Lee found fraught with pit falls.
"I personally believe Darren will go all the way to become the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world and probably one of, if not the leading Irish sports star of the century," says Maloney, not for the first time.
Sutherland's Bulgarian opponent, Georgi Iliev, has been to Ireland before during his brief two wins, four losses career.
Part of the Irish leg of his six-fight career was one of the wins but truth was that no one had heard of the guy, as befits the first professional opponent of a fighter marked for greater things.
Like Kiko Martinez before he silenced the Point Depot in defeating Dunne, Iliev is not expected to win. In a world where bravado is hard currency, confident Sutherland does not expect the fight to last the scheduled six rounds.
"The last time he [Iliev] came to Ireland to box he knocked out the other guy, the Irish guy. He's got high voltage and said he's going to come here and show me what professional boxing is all about," says Sutherland.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge and I think if anyone is going to get knocked out it's going to be him. Training has gone for me very well. I'm punching really hard and I'll be surprised if the fight goes the distance. I'm in great form and I'm really looking forward to getting in there and putting on an entertaining fight."
A three-time Irish senior champion, Sutherland has the pedigree. He also has the looks and the banter.
He's what they call a good package, although, at 26-years-old, he must make the transition from amateur to professional at a higher tempo than many.
His six-round fight is a couple more than the normal first professional bout and thoughts of a tilt at the Irish middleweight crown in 12 months, possibly against Jim Rock, are admirably ambitious. If he holds to the Maloney plan, he can expect five more fights in 2009.
"It could be the back end of next year that I could be fighting for the Irish title. I'm not necessarily in a hurry. I just want to be moved along at a pace that suits my improvement," he says.
"If I step in there and start knocking guys out, they're going to have to step up the challenge and the level of opposition, so it all depends on how well I settle into the programme. I think I'm going to make the transition really smooth."
IIliev represents not so much Sutherland's first steps, more like his first glass of whisky.
Gold medallist Michael Carruth found the move impossible in the end for a number of reasons, while Lee and Dunne moved more slowly and even then have had to reroute their paths to the top.
"It's a different fight in that it's all eyes on me," says Sutherland. "I'm just after coming back from the Olympics and we were relatively unknown and now myself and the other two medallists have become household names.
"It has been a big build-up to this fight. It's a big show in Dublin. So there's a lot of pressure and expectation on me. But it is a challenge I'm ready for and, as I said, training has gone well, so I'll just get in there and rumble."
His biggest hurdle has been the daily grind of London, the two trains he gets from where he lives to the gym, the unfamiliar streets and the unforgiving nature of boxing for money.
The last four weeks have jolted him into a new world from the pain of sparring to the discipline of diet and living the life of a seminarian. In that respect, Maloney, a one time trainee Catholic priest, could forward more advice.
"The training has been enjoyable, the sessions have been longer," says Sutherland.
"I'm getting used to the longer rounds. The sparring has been very intense, no messing around. I've had to really look after myself in the ring."
An under card fight to Rendall Munroe's EBU super bantamweight title defence, against Fabrizio Trotta, is the Irishman's starting point. That's where his dreams of world domination can begin.
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