Sutherland's sparring suggests Iliev is in for a tough night

BOXING/MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT:  WORD AROUND DCU is that Darren Sutherland ran out of sparring partners in London and his promoter, Frank Maloney, went searching in Manchester for "boys" who could do the job. Maloney says Darren crumpled a few of them with 16oz gloves but that he wouldn't name the sparring partners that went down because "they were totally professional".

The word is that Joey Vegas, a light heavyweight with 11 wins from 15 fights took such a pummelling to his body that he had to duck out of an upcoming bout because of bruised ribs. Happy days for Sutherland.

If talk won prizes, Sutherland would be lining up a world championship fight instead of his first professional bout (Sky Sports, 8.00pm). The Irish middleweight, according to his trainer, Brian Lawrence, is going to become known as a puncher as he begins to make a name for himself in the pain game.

This week is something of an introduction for the Sutherland-Maloney duet, but even after one of the promoter's wildest monologues about how good his prospect is, he would not drop him in against an opponent that he didn't believe he could beat.

That happens to be Bulgarian, Georgi Iliev, who can be found on page 25 of BoxingRec and is listed as having won just one of his five fights in the super middleweight division. BoxingRec do not list his age but have him ranked at 495 in the world active super middleweight ratings - that's a long way below the top-rated Mikkel Hessler.

Something more brutal than what he is used to over six rounds, Sutherland is going in a little blind but with no fear of his opponent's reputation for punching. Working off the premise that all opponents are dangerous, especially those who can hit, a win more than the manner of it is the important thing.

Certainly Maloney sees something in Sutherland that he likes and the publicity surrounding this first professional fight has been much broader and intense than that which surrounded Irish gold medal-winning welterweight Michael Carruth.

"I don't want to get caught up in the whole thing because at the end of the day, the language is the same when we get into the ring. You know, it's boxing and that's what I'm good at," says Sutherland. "My confidence always comes from my preparation and once you put in the hard work getting into the ring is maybe the easier part once you train hard.

"I'm sure I will have a few nerves just before I get in the ring but nerves are natural. It keeps your senses sharp, you are on edge and ready to go. I'm under no illusions, it's going to be tough, it's going to be hard.

"As the level increases, when I get hit on the chin I'm going to be asked a lot of questions by some competitive tough guys out there with the same ambitions as myself, but it's a challenge that I'm ready for and I want to just keep working hard and increase the level of opposition step by step."

Already there is a perceived animosity building between Sutherland and English fighter James DeGale, who defeated Sutherland in Beijing before going on to win the gold medal. He also turned professional recently with promoter, Frank Warren. But it is Sutherland who first steps through the ropes, reverting to what he calls his natural style of hitting hard.

After his bronze medal win over Alfonso Blanco Parra in China, he said of the amateur style: "I had to go back to the drawing board and fight my style of boxing instead of this tip-tap business."

Now is his chance to move on again. The difference is that everyone is watching.