Irish Boxing

:good cheers pad, some of our best young fighters better not let their careers pass them by through no fault of their own!

 

Sutherland Stops Rasalev, Fails to Impress

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By Nate Anderson: Irish super middleweight prospect Darren Sutherland (4-0, 4 KO’s) struggled to beat Ukrainian Gennadiy Rasalev (2-2, 1 KO’s), stopping him in the 4th round due to a cut over the left eye of Rasalev at the York Hall, in Bethnal Green, England. Sutherland, 27, the 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist for Ireland, found himself in a much tougher fight than he perhaps expected to get and was hit often by the taller 6’0” Rasalev.

Sutherland looked uncomfortable with the counter shots that he was getting hit with and seemed frustrated at times. Rasalev was cut on the left cheekbone in the 2nd, and Sutherland was cut on his right cheek in the 4th. In the 4th, referee Mark Green stopped the action and had the ringside doctor examine a cut over the left eye of Rasalev. After a quick look, the doctor advised for the bout to be stopped. The fight was then officially called to a halt at 1:16 of the round. Sutherland looked good in the 1st round throwing hard jabs to the midsection of Rasalev that seemed to sink into his stomach and make him uncomfortable.
However, Rasalev made it a point to fire back with counter shots and found it surprisingly easy to land his shots. It was made easier because Sutherland wasn’t moving his head or trying to get out of the way of Rasalev’s punches in any way. Rasalev wasn’t a big puncher, so there wasn’t any danger of Sutherland being stopped.
However, by the end of the opening round, Sutherland’s right cheekbone was already beginning to swell up from the shots that Rasalev landed in the round. In the 2nd round, Rasalev and Sutherland stood toe to toe for portions of the round trading big shots.
Sutherland got the worst of it when they traded with flurries, mainly because he was so poor at blocking or ducking the shots from Rasalev. At one point a frustrated Sutherland grabbed Rasalev and pounded him three times with right hands on the top of his head while in a clinch.
The referee then gave Sutherland a warning for the illegal move, while Rasalev gave Sutherland a look as if to say “what’s wrong with you?’ Clearly, Sutherland was uncomfortable with having a live opponent in front of him and was becoming a little unhinged with being hit back.
Later in the round, Sutherland seemed to collect his composure and get back to business as he landed some hard right hands and combinations in the last minute of the round. Rasalev’s left cheek was bleeding and swelling up from big right hands he was getting nailed with.
Rasalev started the 3rd round firing off hard combinations to the head of Sutherland in the opening minute. Sutherland then came back with big body shots and right hands to the head to dominate the remainder of the round.
However, Rasalev continued to hit him often with counter shots, taking advantage of Sutherland after he would throw a punch. In the 4th round, Sutherland fought well early landing big right hands and nice jabs. However, he was getting hit like clockwork by right hands from Rasalev again and again.
Although winning the fight, Sutherland looked wide open for any shot that Rasalev wanted to fight. Luckily for Sutherland, the referee Mark Green stopped the action and took Rasalev over to the ringside doctor, who checked over Rasalev’s cut over his left eye and advised that the bout be stopped.
“We’re not playing with marbles. It’s a tough sport,” Sutherland said after the fight. “The opponent is going to hit you back. I wanted to keep going and I’m disappointed that the fight was stopped due to the cut. I keep learning, that’s what it’s all about. I took a few shots there, the guy [Rasalev] was game.”
Sutherland needs a lot of work if he wants to compete on the world stage. He’s small for a super middleweight at 5’9” and seemed to have problems with the size of the taller Rasalev. If this were Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Lucian Bute or Andre Ward that Sutherland was in there with, he would have been easily defeated. Those guys are faster, bigger and punch almost as hard as Sutherland.
At 27, Sutherland doesn’t have a lot of time because he’s actually older than both Dirrell and Ward, who are already ranked high in the division. Unless Sutherland shows a lot of sudden improvement, I can’t see him being any more than a gatekeeper in the super middleweight division. He’s really too short for the division and needs to consider moving down a division or two. He’d be a good light middleweight but he’s probably too small for the middleweight division as well.


****ing hell, this guy does not like Sutherland:verysad

 

he really is a mouse in nthe division though....

 

So does that mean then that he cant make it down to 160

 

i dont think he would be able....not sure tho

 

Thats a fantastic article.

**** me. Sutherland has had 4 fights and this ****ing moron is pitching him in with Kessler and Bute then telling us that he would be 'easily defeated' by them. Sure why not throw in with Froch in his next one for the craic?

I wonder how long it took him to work that out. Also he reckons Darren needs to get a move on because there are some boxers who are younger than him (shock horror!) ranked highly in the division.

Darren looked ragged, that much is beyond dispute but this ****er has him looking like someone who hadn't the faintest notion of what he was doing. Surely the first, say, 10 fights (ish) of your career as a genuine prospect are to learn stuff like this.

Unfortunately, and I won't get carried away on the back of one sloppy performance, I do think Super Middle is just a bit too much for him. 160 is a much better bet for him IMO.

How well he can make the weight is hard to tell. Boxrec (I hate to use that as my point of refrence but its the best I can manage) has him listed as 161 1/4 for his 3rd fight. That shows signs that he can get down to around the MW limit. However, the fact he has been 165 + for his other 3 fights indicates that he's more comfortable at a higher weight.

Although, I have to say, he wasn't exactly lean for the Raslev fight. The was weight to be shed there. After seeing the wonders McGurn worked with Dunne in improving his power while keeping him at the same weight. I have to wonder if a similar course of action could see Darren drop the nessecary lbs to make Middleweight while still keeping his core strength. Remains to be seen at the minute though.

 

Got a text off Oisin last night Fight is signed so its 100%

id anyone here needs "sources" they can check Oisins facebook page or wait for tomorrows press release!

 

lads i think daz will fight in sunderland!

 

Yeah, got a ding off ***o last night as well. SHould be a goodun!***O! ***O! ***O!

 

With Eddie fighting ***an is Pajo still fighting Herrera or is he getting a new opponent aswell?This show is really being matched well, 2 all irish contests so far and both should be real punch ups, hope we get one or two more.

 

Pajo is still Fighting Herrera.

 

Maybe i'm wrong here but i think your reading boxrec wrong. The first weight is his weight, at 169 in his 3rd fight. The second weight is the opponents weight.

 

Yeah good spot I was reading it wrong. That'll teach me for using boxrec as a source anyway. If thats anything to go by I'd seriously doubt he is capable of making middleweight unless he has a serious change in his preparation, strength and conditioning.

 

Ya i was always wondering why he seemed to have gone up to Super after being MW as an amateur, but i didnt know its actually 165 for Middleweight in the Olympics.