Boxing:Bernard Dunne's attentions might be solely focused on the defence of his WBA Super Bantamweight against Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at the O2 in Dublin later this month but promoter Brian Peters already has one eye on a box office bout with arguably the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Israel "Magnifico" Vazquez.
Dunne will return to the scene of his dramatic title win over Ricardo Cordoba on Saturday, September 26th to take on the highly rated Thai boxer. In some ways Poonsawat stands in the way of a showdown with Vazquez but the reality is Dunne is likely to have to step up to featherweight for the chance to take on the legendary Mexican sometime early next year.
The popular Dublin boxer is currently putting his body through a punishing training camp in Belfast, including sparring with the highly rated Canadian Olivier Lontchi after his defeat to Juan Manuel Lopez for the WBO title in June.
Lontchi is the first of three world class sparring partners set to work with Dunne ahead of the Poonsawat bout and Peters knows only too well that any bout at this level must be treated with respect.
“There are no easy fights at top level and that’s certainly the case for Bernard on the 26th,” admitted Peters at today’s press conference in Belfast. “Poonsawat is a tremendous fighter, he’s a real power house and he carries knockout power in both hands. He’s only lost once in 39 fights and he’s had almost as many knockouts as Bernard’s had fights so his statistics are very, very impressive.
“The bookies see it as a real 50-50 fight and to be honest it promises to be even tougher than the Cordoba fight. If you look at the Ring magazine ratings they have Poonsawat listed at number three and Bernard at six, so, although Bernard might be the champion a lot of people clearly think that Poonsawat is the better man.
“In many respects beating Poonsawat would even top the win over Cordoba. That’s the kind of challenge Bernard relishes though and in front of another big crowd at The O2 he’ll be a very difficult man to beat,” added Peters before elaborating on his desire to match up Dunne with Vazquez in what would be an instant sellout, hopefully on his home turf in Dublin.
“Vazquez is one of the sport’s great warriors,” said Peters. “He’s a Mexican legend and his trilogy with Rafael Marquez will go down in history as one of the great boxing rivalries. However Bernard sparred countless rounds with him when he trained with Freddie Roach out in LA. He knows him inside out and he would jump at the chance of a fight with him.”
If the issue of moving up weights can be overcome then a showdown with Vazquez could become a real possibility as the Mexican showed interest in the fight during a recent interview.
“I hope Bernard keeps winning, I have nothing but respect for him,” said Vazquez. “He’s a friend of mine but sometimes in the boxing world you have to fight your friends and that’s just the business we’re in. I like Bernard and I was happy to see him win a world title.
“When I sparred Bernard he was fighting at featherweight, I feel that making super bantamweight is harder for him. I would like a chance to fight Bernard Dunne in the near future.
“Bernard’s title is at super bantamweight but I feel more comfortable fighting at featherweight. If Bernard wouldn’t mind moving up to featherweight to face me, just to see who the better man is then I would have no problem fighting in Ireland.
“I remember sparring with Bernard and he is a heavy handed fighter and has a lot of heart. I would like to fight in Ireland and give all the fans over there a match that they would love.”
Vazquez’s manager Frank Espinoza confirmed that negotiations for the fight have taken place. “We had been offered a fight against Bernard Dunne by Brian Peters but at that particular time Israel was not medically clear to box. Now that he is medically clear if Bernard would come up to 126 it’s a fight that we would like to look at.”
Regardless of the outcome against Poonsawat the weight could still be the main stumbling block. “Obviously the weight is a bit of a sticking point currently but both sides would like the fight so it’s something that I will keep working on,” added Peters. It would be a huge fight either in the US or in Dublin but for now Bernard’s sole focus is on Poonsawat.”
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