Good Evening folks,
Thanks to good old Setanta the British RBR returns a few weeks before the Witter v Harris fight, with a bill from The Point in Dublin, with Bernard Dunne facing mandatory Kiko Martinez for the European Super Bantamweight title, and Tony Oakey making a dangerous first defence of his British Light Heavyweight title against mandatory Brian Magee.
First up is the main event, and here's my tale of the tape:
Bernard Dunne (24-0, 14KOs) is coming in two months after his comprehensive win over Reidar Walstad in June, where he outboxed a smaller Norwegian to complete his second defence of the European belt. On the face of it, Dunne has much more competitive experience in the pro ranks, with Martinez barely having fought anyone with more wins than defeats. After an early career toughening up and fighting in the US, Dunne has impressed against European opposition, especially with his defeat of Pickering in claiming the vacant Euro belt, and in beating Walstad, where he showed that he could keep punching for 12 rounds, and avoid getting caught despite being prone to keeping his hands low.
Kiko Martinez (16-0, 13 KOs) is pretty much an unknown quantity, at least to me, but has an impressive reported 40 win streak in the amateurs (38 KOs) along with his fine early record in the pro game. However, the Spaniard will be making his first visit outside of Spain to fight, and will find the partisan atmosphere at the point a very different proposition to fighting before an audience of Spaniards against largely unheralded opponents. Only four of his sixteen opponents have held reasonable records with more wins than defeats, but I expect him to try and get Dunne out of there early with his reported heavy hands. Otherwise...the inevitable points decision or late stoppage would seem to be on the cards.
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