Bernard Dunne is heading back to the Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar, Co. Mayo on Saturday, November 15th on the next Hunky Dorys Fight Night which is being promoted by Brian Peters Promotions in association with Hennessy Sports.
Dunne, the former European Super Bantamweight champ could be just one impressive win away from a world title fight.
Manager Brian Peters is positioning the Dubliner for an assault on the world title early next year but first he will have to come through his assignment in Castlebar unscathed.
Dunne will be joined on the card by local hero Henry “The Western Warrior” Coyle.
The Geesala man has been based in Chicago since turning professional 18 months ago and has so far racked up 8 KO wins from his nine paid outings to date.
Coyle will be back on home soil though next month when he takes to the ring at the Breaffy House Resort for his Irish professional debut. Also set for action on the Hunky Dorys Fight Night are welterweight prospects John O’Donnell and Stephen Haughian.
For Dunne the November 15th fight will mark a return to the venue where he got back to winning ways following his shock defeat to Kiko Martinez. In April he headlined the first ever night of professional boxing in Mayo by outpointing former World Champion, Felix Machado in an impressive return to winning ways.
Dunne has since notched up a further win against Argentina’s Damian Marchiano in July to bring his record to 25 wins against just that one defeat to Martinez. Now manager Brian Peters believes he could be just one fight away from a momentous world title bid.
Dunne’s opponent for next month has yet to be confirmed but Peters says it will be a test of the Neilstown man’s world title ambitions. “We’re working on a shortlist of opponents at the moment.,” confirmed Peters. “We want someone who is really going to test Bernard so that he will prove he’s ready to step up to world title level.
“There’s no doubt the defeat to Martinez upset the applecart and set us back about twelve months but Bernard has had two good wins since then that have put him back in the world ratings. He’s now world ranked by the WBA, the WBC and the WBO so we’re pretty much back on track in terms of positioning Bernard for a World title fight.
Peters revealed that current World Champions at both featerweight and super bantamweight have already been enquiring as to the Dunne’s availability. He said, “We actually turned down a world title opportunity for Bernard earlier this year because we felt it had come too soon but if he can win impressively in Breaffy next month he’ll be ready for anyone.”
The card will also feature the return of Tyrone welterweight, Damian Taggart. The Omagh man will be hoping to take inspiration from his mentor, Tyrone’s All Ireland winning football manager Mickey Harte as he bids to get his career back on track following the first defeat of his career.
Taggart is trained by John Breen in Belfast but maintains a close relationship with Harte who proved with his All-Ireland winners this year that is possible to bounce back from an early setback and go on to achieve great things.
Another man hoping to do great things is Sheffield teenager, Steve “The Blue Steel Bullet” Barnes. The talented 17-year-old is a protégé of legendary Dublin born trainer, Brendan Ingle who believes he could prove to be one of his greatest ever finds.
Tickets for the Hunky Dorys Fight Night priced from €60 go on sale tomorrow (Friday, October 3rd) from 9am at Ticketmaster and all usual outlets.
