Sutherland opens with a win

Boxer Darren Sutherland"s next professional bout will be in Manchester on Friday, 6th March on the undercard of the Jamie Moore v Michele Piccirillo European light middleweight title fight. After his polished knock-out win over Bulgaria"s Georgi Iliev at his DCU base on Thursday night last, Sutherland is looking forward to a short holiday before returning to training in January. He is taking his Navan-based parents, Tony and Linda, on a week"s break to Tenerife to recharge his batteries ahead of his second professional outing in Manchester. 'I wouldn"t have minded doing a few more rounds. People ask me do I have the killer instinct, but I saw he was starting to go and then it just kicked in and I had to get him out of there,' he commented after Thursday"s victory. He said he knows that it was low level opposition starting out, but he wants to become a world professional champion and bring the title back to Ireland. 'I talked a good talk and it was time to walk the walk. I hope people are excited about that and they get behind me and follow me on this journey. I"m just going to keep working hard.' Sutherland"s performance sent the 1,200 spectators at the Dublin City University sports hall home happy and the 26-year-old revealed that he will almost certainly be fighting again on home soil in 2009. 'I will be back again for sure. We"re guaranteed at least two fights a year in Ireland. We"ll be back again at the back end of next year.' Promoter Frank Maloney, who saw Sutherland"s potential at the Beijing Olympics, was suitably impressed. 'That jab was like watching Lennox Lewis" jab again,' he said.