Darren John Sutherland – His Own Toughest Opponent

By Craig Joseph Daly: Still reeling from the shocking deaths of Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest, I awoke the morning of September 15, 2009 to read the headline ‘OLYMPIC HERO DARREN SUTHERLAND FOUND DEAD’ adorning the front page of one of the national newspaper. The news was flabbergasting to those of us who had cheered on his every punch the previous summer in Beijing in Sutherland’s quest for Olympic gold. Darren would take home the bronze, falling just short to eventual gold medallist James Degale.

Throughout an amateur career that saw Darren face and beat some of today’s top pro fighters including Edwin Rodriguez and Matt Korobov, he was always one of the classiest and approachable young boxers in the amateur game. I was fortunate enough to meet Darren on two occasions as we fought in a similar weight class as amateurs, albeit very different levels in that Darren was a few years my senior.

Following his fourth, and what would prove to be his last professional fight, many ringside observers including Ricky Hatton would affirm Sutherland to be the most promising of all the amateur Olympians from Britain and Ireland to make the transition to the pro ranks. Most believed Darren’s style to be far better suited to professional boxing than that of the man who’d beaten him in the Olympic semi final. Indeed in their five meetings prior to the Olympics, Sutherland had beaten James Degale four times.

The time seemed set to rein in Ireland’s wait for our next great boxing icon, until just as abruptly as the rise had begun it came to an end when Darren Sutherland was found hanged in his apartment in Bromley, Greater London. His body was found by his manger Frank Maloney, who stated that although Darren seemed happy in the days prior to his apparent suicide, he had displayed “signs” of the depression he reportedly suffered from. Darren John Sutherland was just 27 years old at the time of his death.

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