Farewell to a dedicated professional

By Tony Jeffries on Sep 17, 09 03:44 PM

IT'S been a tough time since I got back from my training camp in Portugal after the sad news about Darren Sutherland.

Darren had been due to fight on the same card as me at the Seaburn Centre in Sunderland next month but he died on Monday afternoon.

When I heard the news it came as a big shock and my thoughts are very much with his family at this time.

I knew something was wrong when I saw my mam, who was really upset, on the Monday. But she said she couldn't tell me why, and to ring my dad. Even when he told me, it took a while to sink in.

I will always remember Darren as a really dedicated boxer. He was one of the most dedicated I knew, or anyone knew for that matter. Everyone knew how much he loved boxing. I never trained with him myself but everyone who did said he was a really hard trainer.

I knew Darren for a good few years from our time on the amateur circuit. He was really friendly, someone who would always come up to you and talk to you.

Darren obviously had a few problems that nobody knew about. I spoke to him on Friday for about ten minutes and he seemed alright then, which just shows you never know what is going on in the background.

He was a few years older than me, 27, but we both won bronze medals at the Beijing Olympics, then turned pro under Frank Maloney. He seemed to have the world at his feet and it's a big loss to boxing.

Add a Comment

Older/Newer

« Don't buy new stuff | The Monk, the Young Lady and the Ogre »

Name

Email Address

URL

Remember personal info?

Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

This is to help prevent spamming and confirm you are a human

Professor Paul Younger - on a Newcastle University project harnessing the city's geothermal energy
My postings | My feed

Will in Whitehall - The Journal's Political Editor on life at Westminster
My postings | My feed | Twitter

Nicola Weatherall - Education Reporter Nicola Weatherall's is training for the London Marathon.
My postings | My feed

Brenda Boyd - the life and times of a morris dancer
My postings | My feed

Hannah Davies - on family matters
My postings | My feed

Write Said Fred - A view of the world from three feet
My postings | My feed

Adrian Pearson - The Journal's Regional Affairs Correspondent with a look behind the scenes of North East politics
My postings | My feed | Twitter