Boxing News Boxing News
Bernard Dunne and his manager Brian Peters are delighted to hear that European Super Bantamweight Champ Rendall Munroe is due in Dublin tomorrow morning for a press conference.
Perhaps Munroe is ready to accept Peters latest offer of £60,000 to defend his title against Dunne…or maybe he’ll try to explain why he’s defending his title against an obscure Italian in Dublin next month?
That of course would take some explaining given Munroe’s promoter Frank Maloney’s excuse for turning down Peters most recent offer of £40,000 was that Munroe had no interest in defending his title in Dublin.
Peters has now upped that offer to £60,000 following Dunne’s win over world ranked Cristian Faccio at the Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar last Saturday night – the kind of payday that to date has only existed in Munroe’s dreams.
Peters said, “Munroe’s scheduled to defend his title against a guy by the name of Fabrizio Trotter, and let’s be honest; it’s a fight for only fools and horses. If Bernard fought this guy we’d be crucified, but good luck to Munroe.
“He, or at least Frank Maloney, can obviously afford to turn down these offers. I’ll be intrigued to hear tomorrow, straight from the horse’s mouth just why Munroe isn’t interested in making what he supposedly considers an easy £60,000.
“They’ve said they don’t rate Bernard as any threat so why not take the money that’s on offer? Can Frank guarantee me, or more importantly for Munroe’s sake, can he guarantee Rendall that he will make the kind of money I’m offering him for one fight in his next three fights combined?
“I’d certainly be very interested in hearing the answers to all these questions tomorrow, although presumably excuses about mandatory defences and television obligations will be trottered out. Or maybe they’ll show a bit of imagination and come up with a new excuse.”
Peters admits that despite this latest lucrative offer, he believes the chances of Munroe accepting are remote. “I’m not expecting them to accept, to be honest, and anyway, a world title fight remains our priority, but Bernard can always make time for reclaiming the European title on the way.
“I had the fabulous new O2 Arena in Dublin booked for January 31st and I was hopeful of delivering Bernard his world title chance then, but the cut suffered against Faccio will likely postpone that, but we’ll see how it heals up and we can target a new date then.
“I’ve already spoken with some of the world champions at both super bantam and feather and I believe I can tempt them to Dublin. Clearly, there are some champions out there willing to accept a decent payday in Dublin even if Munroe isn’t.”
As for Dunne, he’s not dwelling on it a possible Munroe fight any longer. “I don’t think it’s going to happen,” admitted Bernard. “Brian has already made him a couple of very lucrative offers and for whatever reason, they said they weren’t interested in fighting me in Dublin, yet he’s going to be here next month defending his title.
“I respect Rendall, he’s a good fighter and maybe if it was down to him he’d take the fight but for whatever reason, his team don’t seem interested, so if that’s the case we’ll move on. I feel I’m ready now for that world title fight anyway. The clash of heads aside, I was very happy with my performance on Saturday and I want to really step it up from here on in.“
