Born to be a boxer

It was inevitable. Growing up where he did, Bernard Dunne just had to become a boxer.

Nearly every boy around Neilstown in Clondalkin, County Dublin, boxed at some stage or another. And Bernard’s father, Brendan Dunne, represented Ireland as a light-flyweight at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada.

His older brothers, William and Edward, were also decent fighters. William won two national titles.

Born on February 6, 1980 Bernard was introduced to boxing at the age of six. He was, almost instinctively, highly competitive. Whether fighting in the schoolyard or playing football, he gave of his best.

He compiled an outstanding amateur record, losing very few of his 130 fights. He also boxed for Ireland and narrowly missed selection for the 2000 Olympics.

Dunne made his professional debut in December 2001, fighting under the guidance of the almost legendary trainer Freddie Roach at the famous Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

However, before he turned professional he had a brain scan and was told that he had a cyst on the brain.

“Bernard, it has never actually been demonstrated that these cysts are caused by boxing, but they are more common in boxers than in the general population,” a professor told him.

The British Boxing Board of Control had by then adopted a zero tolerance stance to any brain abnormalities.

Dunne had planned to start his professional career in England but had to move to the US, knowing that his condition was not life threatening.

He went unbeaten in 14 fights before returning to Ireland where he soon became a national hero, winning the European super-bantamweight title.

In August 2007 his world came crashing down when he was stopped in the first round by Kiko Martinez. It was his first defeat and it cost him his European title.

But, ever the fighter, Dunne came back and won the WBA belt in a thrilling fight against Ricardo Cordoba of Panama in March 2009.

However, he lost it in his first defence when he was beaten by Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym. He never fought again.

The story of his rather remarkable career turned into a most readable book titled Bernard Dunne My Story and recently published by Penguin Books in a 264-page paperback.

Tom Humphries of the Irish Times has described it as “a nimbly written excursion through a fighter’s life”.