- Darren Sutherland
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Darren Sutherland Statistics Real name Darren John Sutherland Nickname(s) The Dazzler[1] Rated at Super-middleweight Nationality Irish Born 18 April 1982
Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, IrelandDied 14 September 2009 (aged 27)
Bromley, London, EnglandStance Orthodox Boxing record Total fights 4 Wins 4 Wins by KO 4 Losses 0 Draws 0 No contests 0 Medal record Competitor for 
IrelandMen’s Boxing Olympic Games Bronze 2008 Beijing Middleweight EU Amateur Championships Gold 2007 Dublin Middleweight Gold 2008 Cetniewo Middleweight Darren John Sutherland (18 April 1982 – 14 September 2009) was an Irish professional boxer from County Meath, Ireland. His amateur career was crowned by a bronze medal for Ireland in the middleweight division at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Contents
Career
Provincial and national titles
Sutherland represented the St. Saviour's ABC in Dublin and won the Leinster senior title in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He faced Edward Healy in the 2006 and 2007 Final and the young Darren O'Neill in 2008 winning all three.
European and World championships
At the World Championships 2007 he was beaten by Alfonso Blanco who went on to win a silver medal in the competition.
He was the third ranked European boxer in the middleweight division.
He lost at the first qualifier to English southpaw James DeGale 22:23 but qualified by winning a gold medal as the second Olympic qualifier for Europe. In the final he stopped Jean Mickael Raymond.
World amateur championship results
2005
- Defeated Badrakh Ganbold (Mongolia) RSCO 2
- Defeated Edwin Rodriguez (United States) RSCO 2
- Lost to Matvey Korobov (Russia) RSCO 3
2007
- Defeated Roy Cooke (Dominica) walk-over
- Defeated Andranik Hakobyan (Armenia) 22-20
- Lost to Alfonso Blanco (Venezuela) 13-20
Olympic Games
Sutherland reached the semi-finals of the boxing tournament in the 2008 Olympics and took a bronze medal. He lost his fight to James DeGale in the semi-finals 10-3.[5] Sutherland announced that it was his last ever amateur boxing match.[6]
Olympic results
2008
- 1st round bye
- Defeated Nabil Kassel (Algeria) RSC 4
- Defeated Alfonso Blanco (boxer) (Venezuela) 11-1
- Lost to James DeGale (Great Britain) 3-10
Professional career
Following the exposure gained at the Olympics, Sutherland was offered a number of contracts as a professional boxer. In October 2008 he signed terms with London-based promoter Frank Maloney.[7] On 18 December 2008, Sutherland made a winning start to his professional career with a first round knockout of Georgi Iliev in Dublin. After the bout, Sutherland's promoter Frank Maloney said "I think we've found a real superstar here tonight and this is just the start of a long journey". His next fight, against Siarhei Navarka on 6 March at Robin Park Arena in Wigan, ended with Sutherland winning by a third round stoppage.[8]
Sutherland won his third fight at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex in Stoke-on-Trent on 29 May against Vepkhia Tchilaia. Sutherland won his next fight against Gennadiy Rasalev in York Hall, London.
4 Wins (4 Knockouts), 0 Defeat, 0 Draws Result Opponent Date Promotor Location Notes Win 
Gennadiy Rasalev30/06/09 Frank Moloney York Hall, London 
Last ever fight Win 
Vepkhia Tchilaia29/05/09 Frank Moloney Fenton Manor Sports Complex, Stoke-on-Trent Win 
Siarhei Navarka06/06/09 Frank Moloney Robin Park Arena, Wigan First fight in UK Win 
Georgi Iliev18/12/08 Frank Moloney DCU Sports Complex, Dublin First professional fight Death
On 14 September 2009, Sutherland was found dead at his apartment in Bromley, Greater London, by his promoter, Frank Maloney. He is alleged to have committed suicide by hanging himself. It has also been confirmed that he suffered from depression. Olympic gold medalist, James Degale commented on the death stating: "It is very, very sad news - I just can't believe it, It is a tragedy. First and foremost, my heart goes out to his family. I just could not believe it; my heart went to the floor when I heard. He was a big part of my Olympic medal journey and it is just terrible. I just do not know what to say except that he was a brilliant fighter, in fact an excellent fighter, and he was a gentleman outside the ring as well. He had an Olympic bronze medal and his whole life to look forward to. He had a great future, and my heart goes out to everyone who knew him."[9][10][1] [11]
He was exhumed in September 2010 for a further private postmortem at the request of his family.[12]
References
- ^ a b Mitchell, Kevin (2009-09-15). "Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland found hanged". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/sep/15/darren-sutherland-dead. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "Darren Sutherland wins gold in Helsinki". RTE. http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0415/sutherlandd.html. Retrieved 11 January 2007.
- ^ Bernard O'Neill. "EU Championship Preview". Irish-boxing.com. http://www.irish-boxing.com/june07/18_June_2007_EU_Preview.htm. Retrieved 11 January 2007.
- ^ Tomás Rohan. "2007 Irish Seniors Preview". Irish-boxing.com. http://www.irish-boxing.com/january07/19_January_2007_Seniors.htm. Retrieved 11 January 2007.
- ^ RTÉ Sport. [Sutherland secures Olympic medal "Sutherland secures Olympic medal"]. RTE. Sutherland secures Olympic medal. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Sutherland finally taking on the world". independent.ie. http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/boxing-sutherland-finally-taking-on-the-world-1574492.html. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
- ^ "Dream debut for Daz". www.skysports.com. 19 December 2008. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12183_4665550,00.html. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
- ^ Lewis, Ron (2009-09-15). "Frank Maloney ill after finding Olympic boxing hero Darren Sutherland hanged". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/boxing/article6834645.ece. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "Latest Stories From News.Com.Au". http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26075292-12377,00.html.
- ^ "Sutherland was in 'quite a happy mood'". BBC News. 24 September 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/8274073.stm. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0901/breaking44.html
External links
Categories:- 1982 births
- 2009 deaths
- Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Boxers who committed suicide
- Irish boxers
- Irish people of Grenadian descent
- Olympic boxers of Ireland
- Olympic bronze medalists for Ireland
- Olympic medalists in boxing
- Middleweight boxers
- People from Bromley
- People from Dublin (city)
- People of the Year Awards winners
- Suicides by hanging in England
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