09.03.07 – European Champion Bernard Dunne will appear on the Late Late Show on RTÉ ONE tonight (Friday, March 9th). The Dubliner is currently in training camp in Belfast hard at work in preparation for the first defence of his title at the Point on March 25th. He’ll be back in his native Dublin tonight though to discuss the upcoming fight with Pat Kenny and look back on that memorable night last November when he lifted the title with a boxing masterclass against Esham Pickering..
Now Bernard wants to cement his position as the best in Europe and is willing to take on all comers for his beloved belt. First in the queue is Yersin Jailauov a 29-year-old from Kazakhstan who will arrive in Dublin determined to relieve Dunne of his prized possession.
Dunne attracted a record crowd of over 7,000 to the Point last November and all indications are that he’s in line to even better that this time.
Dunne’s promoter Brian Peters said, “Tickets have been flying for this one as well and we’re very close to being sold out. I’ve actually rearranged the seating this time so that we can get over 8,000 in for this one as there was so many disappointed last time out.
“The atmosphere at the Point was sensational and it was right up there with some of the greatest nights in Irish sporting history.
“Hunky Dorys have come on board again to sponsor this fight and combined with the backing of RTÉ we can hopefully bring a World title fight to Dublin. First though Bernard needs to clean up at European level and that what we intend to do over the next few fights.”
For now though Dunne is keen to stress that he is focusing solely on Jailauov. “He’s coming to take my title so he’ll be very hungry and dangerous. I’ve seen a few tapes of him and he’s a good fighter. It just takes one punch in boxing to turn everything upside down so I’ll be giving him all the respect he deserves.
“I never make any predictions for my fight other than that it’ll be my hand raised at the end of the fight regardless of whether the win comes on points or via a knockout. Rest assured though that if the chance comes to put him away I’ll be sure to take it and leave him looking up at the ring lights!”
A limited number of tickets are available from Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.ie or by calling the Ticketmaster hotline on 0818 719 300.