Boxing:Bernard Dunne looks set to make the first defence of his WBA super-bantamweight title in Dublin's O2 Arena on Saturday, September 26th against Thai boxer Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym.
After being forced to forego a voluntary defence and enter in to purse-bidding with the Thai boxer’s camp, Dunne’s promoter Brian Peters secured the bout, tabling the minimum $120,000 (€84,309) on Monday.
In confirming Peters’ success this week, the WBA website said that no other bids were lodged. Poonsawat’s manager Niwat Laosuwanwat was not happy with the outcome, but as it stands Dunne looks sure to be back in front of a home crowd in the autumn, a little over six months on from his marathon 11th round stoppage of Panamanian Ricardo Cordoba at the same venue.
Other dates and venues available to Peters are October 2nd in Macau, China, or October 3rd in New York. Neither is likely to have the same appeal as another sell-out in Dunne’s hometown.
Peters’ success in securing a home bout will be a relief, given Poonsawat’s pedigree and undefeated record at home. Poonsawat and Dunne are the only boxers to have defeated Cordoba - the Thai won on a split decision at the Rajadamnern Stadium, Thailand in 2005.
Poonsawaat boasts 38 wins and just one defeat - which came on his sole excursion outside of Thailand - when he lost on points in a 2006 world bantamweight title bout to Wladimir Sidorenko.
That was three years ago, however, and the 28-year-old has not lost since - during which time he also moved up to 122 lbs. He currently holds the WBA’s “interim” belt after defeating Rafael Hernandez in nine rounds in April.
The Thai was an opponent well down Peters’ list of challengers. He doesn’t have the pulling power of some of the bigger South American names based in the US and is somewhat of an unknown quantity having fought only once outside Thailand.
Ideally Peters wanted a meeting with Israel Vazquez but the Mexican’s decision to move to 126 lbs after returning from injury scuppered those hopes over the summer and he was eventually told by the WBA to negotiate a mandatory defence against Poonswaat.
Poonsawat is undoubtedly a dangerous opponent but a win for Dunne would raise his profile further in the US and go some way to securing the more lucrative Hispanic-Irish bout across the Atlantic that Peters had sought after the win over Cordoba.
