Bernard Dunne is nursing nothing more than a bruised ego after his third round defeat to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at the O2 Arena last night. The Dubliner was taken to Beaumont Hospital after being knocked down three times by the Thai challenger but was released less than hour after being admitted.
His promoter Brian Peters reiterated Dunne’s disappointment with his performance this afternoon, but remained adamant the 29-year-old can bounce back after being relieved of his WBA super-bantamweight title in his first defence.
“Thankfully Bernard is fine,” said Peters. “His pride is wounded because he was so desperate to give the country a lift. We want to thank everyone for their support again last night.
“It means an awful lot to Bernard and the rest of the team and Bernard wanted to give them another great night.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, Poonsawat was just too strong but I’ve no doubt that he will bounce back from this. After the Kiko Martinez defeat (August 2007) there wasn’t too many predicting that Bernard would go on to win a world title but he did just that and he can come back from this setback as well.”
Peters added Dunne and his camp will not be rushed into a decision on the future.
“Obviously we’re all very disappointed right now but once the dust settles we’ll look at our options and see what direction we go from here.
“There are no excuses, Bernard was beaten by a great, great fighter last night and I’m sure that Poonsawat will enjoy a long and successful reign and we wish him all the very best for the future.”
One possibility for Dunne, is a move to arguably the more suitable division of featherweight (126 pounds), while a rematch with the Thai was all but ruled out by Peters last night.
Poonsawat was, like the similarly built Martinez, a mandatory challenger and would never have been handpicked by Dunne’s camp had they the choice.
If Dunne were to stay at 122 pounds, a fight against European title holder Rendall Munroe from Leicester may prove the shortest road to redemption.
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