BoxRec

DUNNE'S RUNNING SCARED OF MUNROE

BERNARD DUNNE has turned down a substantial offer to face FTM's European super-bantamweight champion Rendall Munroe.

The Dubliner's management claim they are snubbing an opportunity to face Leicester's punching binman later this year because of contractual obligations to Irish TV network RTE.

Munroe's promoter Frank Maloney said: "That is a lame excuse if ever I heard one, and it really is a bit hard to swallow.

"We all know that TV companies will not stand in the way of fights if it will progress their boxer in the long term.

"A classic example was Lennox Lewis v Evander Holyfield in 1999. The biggest networks in the world, HBO and Showtime worked hand in hand so I can't see what the problem is with RTE.

"Dunne has had his chance, and will have to wait at least 18 months for a mandatory fight. Munroe is now looking elsewhere and Dunne is off the radar.

"I can only assume that Irish TV is happy for Dunne to continue fighting Mexican road sweepers instead of a real dustman."

Munroe (16-1) continued his progress to the top with a points win over Armenian tough nut Arsen Martirosian on Friday night..

Nottingham's Harvey Hadden Lesiure Centre was sold out for Munroe's second title defence and Maloney expects the working class hero to headline again at the East Midlands venue before the end of the year.

He added: "I expect to name Rendall's next challenger inside ten days. We have three names in the frame at the moment.

"In the next week I will discuss the options with Rendall, his manager Mike Shinfield and trainer Jason Shinfield.

"But we want to get back to Nottingham as soon as possible. The turn out last week was unbelievable considering that everybody is feeling the pinch.

"In fact, I think the only people who aren't affected by the credit crunch are Dunne and his team, judging by what they can afford to turn down."

Will you be looking at a world title shot for Rendall soon?

All fine and dandy FTM but I suggest you look closer to home.
What are you gonna do to sort out the Jamie Moore situation ?

Disappointed that Dunnes done one

If it had have come off, then to be fair astute match making on FTM's part.
High exposure, reasonable name on the record, but most important of all - minimal risk.
Munroe would have coasted this.

Chambers2 wrote:Disappointed that Dunnes done one

I get thge impression it might be his management. When I asked Wayne Mc in July about a possible fight with Dunne, he said Bernard was up for it but his management weren't.

it will be all Hunky Dory.

Nah, it won't be a world title shot next. Maloney said his next fight will be a voluntary and then the one after will be a mandatory. If he comes through them two (going off his previous defences it's not a given) then I would get him in for a major belt at world level. It's too soon at the moment. He still has a lot to work on and if he gets his flaws right - he's going to be hard to beat.

RTE are a factor. They've pratically had exclusive rights to most of his fights and have been pulling in viewers because of it. Dunne is pretty much an "RTE Fighter". I doubt they want to give up a big fight like this that easy. RTE are not HBO, they only have like 3 fighters that they focus on and Dunne is the most popular of the lot.

I wouldn't be surprised if you see a counter offer in the near future that is bigger than what Maloney offered. Dunne is the draw in the fight and on his terms it could draw much more money than it would otherwise in the newly rebuilt 02 in Dublin which I think now holds 12,000?

I just think Brian Peters is being shrewd and playing hard ball. Why fight in front of 2 to 3 thousand when you can fight in front of 12 thousand and get home advantage in the process. Why fight on Sky, when you can fight on the Irish national station where everyone can see it?

Maloney's offer probably wasn't as big as you think, when you factor in what Peters could probably counter offer.

Cannibal wrote:RTE are a factor. They've pratically had exclusive rights to most of his fights and have been pulling in viewers because of it. Dunne is pretty much an "RTE Fighter". I doubt they want to give up a big fight like this that easy. RTE are not HBO, they only have like 3 fighters that they focus on and Dunne is the most popular of the lot.

I wouldn't be surprised if you see a counter offer in the near future that is bigger than what Maloney offered. Dunne is the draw in the fight and on his terms it could draw much more money than it would otherwise in the newly rebuilt 02 in Dublin which I think now holds 12,000?

I just think Brian Peters is being shrewd and playing hard ball. Why fight in front of 2 to 3 thousand when you can fight in front of 12 thousand and get home advantage in the process. Why fight on Sky, when you can fight on the Irish national station where everyone can see it?

Maloney's offer probably wasn't as big as you think, when you factor in what Peters could probably counter offer.

That might have been the case pre-kiko but not now.

Cannibal wrote:RTE are a factor. They've pratically had exclusive rights to most of his fights and have been pulling in viewers because of it. Dunne is pretty much an "RTE Fighter". I doubt they want to give up a big fight like this that easy. RTE are not HBO, they only have like 3 fighters that they focus on and Dunne is the most popular of the lot.

I wouldn't be surprised if you see a counter offer in the near future that is bigger than what Maloney offered. Dunne is the draw in the fight and on his terms it could draw much more money than it would otherwise in the newly rebuilt 02 in Dublin which I think now holds 12,000?

I just think Brian Peters is being shrewd and playing hard ball. Why fight in front of 2 to 3 thousand when you can fight in front of 12 thousand and get home advantage in the process. Why fight on Sky, when you can fight on the Irish national station where everyone can see it?

Maloney's offer probably wasn't as big as you think, when you factor in what Peters could probably counter offer.

This might be ture, But Rendall is the champion and his team can call the shots unless it is a mandatory challenge and goes to purse bids.

Peters may be able to offer Dunne more money but he has not got the champion and by the way the Martinez's people have offered a lot more that Brian Peters to the mandatory defence before the due date but team Munroe have decided to let this fight go to purse bids when they are due so it looks like Team Dunne can make any offer they like but they will be waiting for quite a while for a shot at his old title. :x

FtmPress wrote:

Cannibal wrote:RTE are a factor. They've pratically had exclusive rights to most of his fights and have been pulling in viewers because of it. Dunne is pretty much an "RTE Fighter". I doubt they want to give up a big fight like this that easy. RTE are not HBO, they only have like 3 fighters that they focus on and Dunne is the most popular of the lot.

I wouldn't be surprised if you see a counter offer in the near future that is bigger than what Maloney offered. Dunne is the draw in the fight and on his terms it could draw much more money than it would otherwise in the newly rebuilt 02 in Dublin which I think now holds 12,000?

I just think Brian Peters is being shrewd and playing hard ball. Why fight in front of 2 to 3 thousand when you can fight in front of 12 thousand and get home advantage in the process. Why fight on Sky, when you can fight on the Irish national station where everyone can see it?

Maloney's offer probably wasn't as big as you think, when you factor in what Peters could probably counter offer.

This might be ture, But Rendall is the champion and his team can call the shots unless it is a mandatory challenge and goes to purse bids.

Peters may be able to offer Dunne more money but he has not got the champion and by the way the Martinez's people have offered a lot more that Brian Peters to the mandatory defence before the due date but team Munroe have decided to let this fight go to purse bids when they are due so it looks like Team Dunne can make any offer they like but they will be waiting for quite a while for a shot at his old title. :x

Thanks for the info. Care to enlighten us as to why Jamie Moore's career is being allowed to go down the shitter?

You won't get a response mate.
I've tried and tried ever since the Euro title tilt was mooted - then it was on, then a matter of two weeks later it's off.
I'm on a yellow card from the governors around here, so can't say what I feel.
Be careful, the sh1t word is frowned upon, but ractist torrents are allowed !

twenty six wrote:You won't get a response mate.
I've tried and tried ever since the Euro title tilt was mooted - then it was on, then a matter of two weeks later it's off.
I'm on a yellow card from the governors around here, so can't say what I feel.
Be careful, the sh1t word is frowned upon, but ractist torrents are allowed !

You'll be on a very yellow card if you're not careful

twenty six wrote:If it had have come off, then to be fair astute match making on FTM's part.
High exposure, reasonable name on the record, but most important of all - minimal risk.
Munroe would have coasted this.

I possibly could of understood(but not agreed) with that before Munroe fought Matirosian but making that comment off the back of a terrible performance seems a bit strange. I don't doubt Munroe could beat Dunne, but I don't think he'd ever coast a fight with him. If he could do that he'd probably be able to hack it at World level.

Anyway disappointed this isn't on even though it was probably for short money compared to what Dunne normally earns. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to get what you want(eg Judah fighting Spinks for the Welterweight title in St.Louis for $100,000).
There's no doubt RTÉ would of been a stumbling block in this, they do get very high figures for Dunne.


Now hopefully Munroe takes on Simeone Maludrottu, Matthew Marsh or Paulie Hyland, because if it turns out it's Sean Hughes or one of the Italians(Bartolozzi, Trotta, Morra) then they weren't actually looking for a challenge and the money offered to Dunne was probably so low they knew it would be refused.

If it's any of the top 3 then it's clear they are trying to push Munroe on and that Dunne was probably offered a decent purse.

Dunne has not looked the same since the Martinez fight. Regardless of the matchmaking at RTE, Dunne will remain a popular draw having had nothing to shout about in boxing for quite a few years now. The Irish people are not stupid though and know the true story. Even the most casual of observers I know realise that a world title is most likely a step (or two) too far.

The Dubliner's management claim they are snubbing an opportunity to face Leicester's punching binman later this year because of contractual obligations to Irish TV network RTE.

Well they can't breach a contract.

I think dunne really wants this fight but as has been said above peters is a shrewd man and I can see this fight being made.
Since weve seen muroe last friday I am not as concerned about his size and the fact that dunnes chin is weak he is not as strong as his size may suggest.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2008/0911/dunneb.html
Bernard Dunne's manager Brian Peters has questioned why Rendall Munroe's promoter Frank Maloney did not encouraged the current European Super Bantamweight champion to take up the offer of a Dublin fight with Dunne.


On Wednesday, Maloney claimed that he had made a 'substantial offer' to Dunne to come to England to challenge Munroe for his old title. Peters remains puzzled, however, as to why Maloney rejected a career best purse for Munroe to defend his title against Dunne in Ireland.


Peters said: 'I'd like to thank Frank for his offer.

'However he neglected to mention that the offer I made to him for Rendall to defend against Bernard was more than double their offer and would have been easily the biggest payday of Munroe's career.

'So by Frank's rationale I'm sure he'd admit that the offer he rejected, was very, very, substantial.


'Clearly they are not as confident of beating Bernard as they would like people to think - but if they want to use Bernard's name to get some publicity then that's ok too.

'Our offer stands by the way and should Frank wish to take it up he can give me a call.

'Either way I wish Rendall nothing but the best in his career. I hope the kind of offers that his team are rejecting come around again for him in the future.'


Peters says that if Maloney still has no interest in his offer he will move on with other plans for Dunne.

Peters added: 'There are plenty of other options on the table for Bernard. He's already been European champion and to fight for a world title has always been the ultimate aim and that's what we're building to at the moment.'

dve3333 wrote:http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2008/0911/dunneb.html
Bernard Dunne's manager Brian Peters has questioned why Rendall Munroe's promoter Frank Maloney did not encouraged the current European Super Bantamweight champion to take up the offer of a Dublin fight with Dunne.


On Wednesday, Maloney claimed that he had made a 'substantial offer' to Dunne to come to England to challenge Munroe for his old title. Peters remains puzzled, however, as to why Maloney rejected a career best purse for Munroe to defend his title against Dunne in Ireland.


Peters said: 'I'd like to thank Frank for his offer.

'However he neglected to mention that the offer I made to him for Rendall to defend against Bernard was more than double their offer and would have been easily the biggest payday of Munroe's career.

'So by Frank's rationale I'm sure he'd admit that the offer he rejected, was very, very, substantial.


'Clearly they are not as confident of beating Bernard as they would like people to think - but if they want to use Bernard's name to get some publicity then that's ok too.

'Our offer stands by the way and should Frank wish to take it up he can give me a call.

'Either way I wish Rendall nothing but the best in his career. I hope the kind of offers that his team are rejecting come around again for him in the future.'


Peters says that if Maloney still has no interest in his offer he will move on with other plans for Dunne.

Peters added: 'There are plenty of other options on the table for Bernard. He's already been European champion and to fight for a world title has always been the ultimate aim and that's what we're building to at the moment.'

It seems that everyone is missing the point here.
Brian Peters offer maybe more than I offered him for Dunne, but Dunne is only the challenger, I can assure Mr Peters that the offer was not the same as the figure Rendall has in his contract with me.
if Rendall was the challenger and I was offered the money that we have offered Dunne as challenger, and we were confident off winning the title, I can assure you we would swim to Dublin for the fight.
As far we are (Team Rendall) are concerned, the Dunne issue is now a thing of the past.
And good luck to him in persuing a world title, and lets hope its a genuine one and not a Micky Mouse, if he is still around in 18 months time, and is the next mandatory to Rendall, and they win the purse bid, we would willingly come to Dublin, or any part of Ireland they wish, what everyone seems to forget, when a champion offers a voluntary defence, all the cards are stacked in the champions deck,. he who has the title calls the tune.

Its good to have FM posting again.

These to and fros are always entertaining.

"I can only assume that Irish TV is happy for Dunne to continue fighting Mexican road sweepers instead of a real dustman."


Belter! Big fan of Maloney. THAT Union Jack waistcoat aside he's always come across as a decent bloke.

PS - Why not give Micky Hunter a tinkle? He's un-retired and a fight between him and Munroe would do good numbers IMO.

I can understand both sides of the argument but if I was Brian Peters I would be playing this the exact same way. More money can be generated in Dublin and you will have a MUCH bigger audience exposure wise.

So, I think he has played his cards right, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to come off unless they wait around 18 months. There are plenty of fights for him to choose from until then though.

What is the major issue? Is it home advantage or solely the TV contract thing? Would somewhere like Northern Ireland be considered an acceptable neutral venue?

Cannibal wrote:I can understand both sides of the argument but if I was Brian Peters I would be playing this the exact same way. More money can be generated in Dublin and you will have a MUCH bigger audience exposure wise.

So, I think he has played his cards right, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to come off unless they wait around 18 months. There are plenty of fights for him to choose from until then though.

What is the major issue? Is it home advantage or solely the TV contract thing? Would somewhere like Northern Ireland be considered an acceptable neutral venue?

Probably not as even though Dunne's fanbase is predominantly from Dublin it would still be a fully Irish crowd in Ireland. Just smaller.
The problem with tv is Sky will insist on 22:00-00:00 on a friday night. RTÉ would want the fight a prime time on a Saturday.
RTÉ also wouldn't be happy with Sky showing the fight in Ireland, which unless they encrypted the Irish viewing of Sky Sports they would be doing.
Peters wouldn't be happy with the small attendance the fight would draw in Britain and also Dunne's purse(which I'm guessing would be very low for Dunne if Peter's can offer twice as much).

It seems Maloney won't let Munroe go to Dublin no mater what the offer and Peters won't let Dunne go to England because Maloney can't generate a good enough offer. Neither camp seems willing to budge and I can understand both sides of the argument. It's just a shame that Dunne isn't mandatory as then the fight would have to happen. That would presumely be in Dublin then but it isn't going to happen for quite some time anyway so


I just hope Munroe's next opponent isn't Sean Hughes or one of those 3 Italians in the rankings. That would indicate Maloney was never serious about fighting Dunne. Simeone Maludrottu, Matthew Marsh, Paulie Hyland and Commonwealth Champion Anyetei Laryea(inegibile for the European belt) are the fighters to have Munroe face if they are showing any ambition.

Big ears do you think that dunne will wait for 18 months or so ? Do you think he will continue to pad his record with fighters below his level or will he take a risk?
I can also see both sides of the story If dunne was euro champ there would be no way he would leave dublin.
Dunne is a big fish in a small bowl over here and no matter what fight he takes it would be bigger than a munroe event. Unless munroe is to have a world shot he will be still fighting in leisure centres I feel ,its just the way it is.