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Philippines, 03 Feb 2026 |
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OLYMPIC MEDALIST IN IMPRESSIVE PRO DEBUT By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sat, 20 Dec 2008 Ireland?s Olympic bronze medalist Darren Sutherland has made an impressive pro debut scoring a first round TKO victory over Bulgaria ?s Georgi Iliev at 2:44 of the very first round at the Dublin University Sports Hall in Ireland. Middleweight Sutherland forced the referee to call a halt after hurting Iliev badly with a series of vicious shots to the body and head. Iliev was cut on his right cheek after he was caught by a right from Sutherland who also used a stinging left jab effectively. The experienced Iliev who had five previous fights and who knocked out Keith Cresham last July was hurt by a solid left cross and a right to the ribs and when Sutherland nailed the Bulgarian with a cracking right to the temple, referee David Irving had seen enough and decided to stop it. In a post fight interview on Sporting Life, Sutherland said he was really disappointed that he couldn?t get in a few more rounds. Nevertheless he was satisfied with his performance saying ?I?m just happy to get a successful pro debut under my belt. There will be tougher fights down the line.? Sutherland said his objective was ?to improve with every fight and Frank Maloney (Promoter) will step up the opposition as I move on.? Maloney was clearly impressed with Sutherland?s pro debut and said ?I think we?ve found a real superstar in Darren.? The 26 year old Sutherland was beaten in the semi finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games by Brirtain?s James DeGale who went on to win the gold medal beating Emilio Correa of Cuba in the finals which was an ill-tempered fight where the uban bit DeGale?s shoulder. DeGale who had lost four of five previous fights to Sutherland turned pro last December 2. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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