February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Dunne, who turned 24 on Feb. 6, returns for the first time since a testing points win over Mexico’s Alejandro Cruz Ramirez in Arizona last November.
The undefeated Dubliner, 10-0 with eight KOs, got the nod in that six-rounder after suffering the first knockdown of his career.
Should he emerge unscathed against Perez, a 26-16 veteran with 21 wins via the short route, Dunne will box again at a glitzy charity show in two weeks, on the special request of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
That fight, in Los Angeles on March 27, will be against one Angelo Torres at the Marconi Automative Museum, where patrons will pay $5,000 a table and the guest list will feature stars such Denzel Washington and Schwarzenegger himself.
For Dunne, however, it’s first things first as he focuses on Perez.
“He used to campaign as a bantamweight and twice fought for the WBA and NABF titles,” he said of the 35-year-old Panamanian last weekend.
“I’m feeling really good. I’ve been sparring well and I’m ready to go back to town,” Dunne added.
A courageous young man who doesn’t shy away from mixing it up with the likes of Sugar Shane Mosley and other world class fighters in the gym, Dunne’s sparring foe for the Perez bout has been top-ranked super featherweight Nate Campbell.
Friday’s fight will be Dunne’s first this year. There will be no live television coverage. On the planned March 27 match, Dunne said he’d boxed on last year’s card at the Marconi Museum and was flattered that, Schwarzenegger, who put his acting career on hold to enter politics, had asked him to return.
“It’s fantastic,” the fighter said. “I promise to put on a good performance.”
FIGHT SHOW
Martin O’Malley, the County Wicklow-raised lightweight whose career hit the skids last year with only one win in three outings, has been tapped to meet hot prospect Juan Diaz in the first bout of a new boxing show on NBC next month.
O’Malley and the 20-year-old Diaz (23-0, 11 KOs) will headline the opener of Main Event’s five-week Saturday afternoon series on April 17. The 10-rounder will be broadcast on NBC from the Pechenga Casino in Temecula, Calif.
“A win puts me above and beyond where I’ve ever been. It’s a great [opportunity] for me. I’ll just have to perform,” O’Malley said last week from his parents’ winter home in Sun City, Ariz.
Although O’Malley is eight years older and three inches taller than the 5-foot-6 Diaz, most boxing pundits make Diaz the favorite.
The youngster is considered to be one of boxing’s rising prospects. His high-powered management team includes trainer Ronnie Shields and manager Shelly Finkel, who’ve worked with some of the top fighters of this generation, including Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
“He can punch. I’ve seen him fight several times and he’s similar to [Leo] Dorin in that he throws a lot of punches and is very busy,” O’Malley noted, comparing Diaz to one of only two men to beat him.
O’Malley said he’s been training hard for the fight and knows what to expect. “It will be tough,” he said.
It will also be a very lucrative match for the Irish American. Although not at liberty to disclose his purse, O’Malley said it would be the biggest payday of his career.
His last fight was a 10-round draw with Leonardo Rojas last October. Earlier, O’Malley had dropped a 10-round decision to Peruvian Luis Villalta, who died in Miami last week after losing the NABA lightweight crown to Ricky Quiles.
Villalta, who was 35, collapsed in the dressing room after making the first defense of the title, which he won with the result over O’Malley, in a scrap for the vacant belt last July.
“My condolences go out to his family. I’m at a loss for words,” O’Malley said. In his third match last year, O’Malley defeated Julian Romero over eight rounds in Phoenix.