Boxing:An untimely broken collarbone means Andy Murray will miss out on the chance to defend his European Union lightweight title as one of the under card bouts before Bernard Dunne's world title fight at the O2 Arena in Dublin on Saturday night.
The Cavan boxer was set to take on Italy’s Pasquale Di Silvio but will be sidelined for at least six weeks to give the bone time to heal.
“I’m gutted as it would have been a huge opportunity for me,” said the 27-year-old who has won all 16 of his pro fights to date. “Training had been going really well and as luck would have it the break happened in my last sparring session for the fight.
“I had hurt it a few days earlier but you always have aches and pains in training and you shrug them off. In the back of my mind I was a little bit worried about it but then during my last sparring session I actually heard the snap and I knew straight away it was broken.
“It’s quite painful at the moment but the doctors said that if it heals right I should be ready to start training again in six weeks so hopefully I won’t be out too long.”
Dunne, meanwhile, will be putting the final touches to his preparations ahead of his first defence of the WBA World Super bantamweight title against the number one contender Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym from Thailand.
Saturday’s fight night will also include the tall figure of Tyson Fury as one of the under card bouts. An intriguing All-Irish affair will see undefeated duo Jamie Power (Limerick) and Michael Sweeney (Mayo) put their unbeaten records on the line against each other over eight rounds at light heavyweight.
Reigning Irish welterweight champion, Stephen Haughian, will also feature as he takes on Estonia’s Albert Starikov, while three Dublin favourites also take to the ring with current Irish and IBF international featherweight champ Patrick Hyland, former Irish lightweight champ Oisin Fagan and middleweight Anthony Fitzgerald featuring in separate bouts.