Irish Boxing Betting: Bernard Dunne v Damian David Marchiano

Boxing Betting / Editor / 11 July 2008 / Leave a Comment

Mark Doyle previews Bernard Dunne's fight this Saturday evening against Damian David Marchiano, Live on RTE.

After Bernard Dunne's points win over Felix Machado in April, we were told that the Dubliner's next opponent would be of a similar - if not higher - standard. That is most certainly not the case as, on Saturday, in the National Stadium, Dunne will square-up to Damian David Marchiano, who could hardly be considered a world-class fighter. What Marchiano is, however, is a strong, competent pro who is likely to provide Dunne with what he is looking for: a competitive dust-up ahead of what he hopes will be a very significant title fight later in the year.

Dunne is currently trying to get his career back on track after losing his European title - and unbeaten record - to Kiko Martinez in devastating circumstances in August of last year, the champion being dethroned in just 86 seconds of the first round. It is hardly surprising, then, that Dunne has been spared a clash with a genuine super-bantamweight contender, particularly after coming through what was grueling and bruising encounter with former super-flyweight world champion Machado. Dunne, in what was his first outing since being demolished by Martinez, boxed sensibly, and claimed a comfortable win on points.

It was the ideal comeback fight for Dunne. Against a wily, tough and awkward opponent, he was tagged a number of times and, much to the relief, of trainer Harry Hawkins, promoter Brian Peters and his many fans, took each shot without flinching. Not only had Dunne to deal with a severe case of ring rust, having been out of action for eight months, he had also had to dig deep after suffering that a substantial cut to his brow following a clash of heads midway through the fight. Dunne's resolve also shone through in the way in which he dealt with the injury to his right hand. All in all, Dunne showed us that night in Mayo that he is, to a large degree at least, over what happened to him against Martinez at The Point.

His hope now, of course, is that he will be granted a rematch with Martinez, who has now been exposed as a one-dimensional fighter, or a shot the new European champion, Rendall Munroe. The latter does not appear even remotely interested in tackling Dunne but that just makes this weekend's fight with Marchiano even more important for the Neilstown native. For Dunne, there can be no more slip-ups. He needs a strong showing if he is to keep on the pressure on Munroe and he also needs to restore some of the confidence that the Irish public and media have lost in him. Like it or not, there has long been a feeling that Dunne falls, and will always fall, just short of being a world-class fighter.

Consequently, a knockout win over Marchiano would certainly help in this regard. However, that looks unlikely because, and let's make no bones about it, Dunne does not possess hands of stone; he is not a concussive hitter. He never has been - he has stopped just over half of his opponents - and, at 28, is unlikely to suddenly start blowing people away. There is a temptation, though, to back Dunne to stop Marchiano, who, while he has a respectable record of 15 wins from 20 contests, has only fought twice outside of his native Argentina, losing on both occasions.

Indeed, in South Africa in May of this year, Marchiano was halted in the fifth round of his clash with Silence Mabuza. That bout was at bantamweight, meaning Marchiano, who has fought at 122lbs just four times in his career, could find Dunne, a seasoned and proven campaigner at super-bantamweight, too much to handle. However, crucially, Mabuza, unlike Dunne, is a very big hitter and Marchiano is by no means glass-jawed. He went 12 rounds with Abner Mares last year. Mares is one of Golden Boy's most exciting young talents, one that Oscar de la Hoya is really expecting big things from, and Marchiano never really looked like being knocked out that night.

So, while the South American could hardly be considered a world champion in the making, he is a compact, defensively sound fighter who likes to come forward and, therefore, should be more than capable of going the distance with Dunne on Saturday night.

Recommended Bets:

If there is to be a stoppage it will be a late one, between Rounds Eight and 10. All of those outcomes can be backed at odds of around [21.0], so it might be worth spreading your bets over those three rounds. However, keep your Round bets modest, as it's hard to see anything other than Dunne winning via decision, probably by six clear points on the scorecard.