Munroe ups Munroe offer

16 November 2008 – by Mark Doyle

Irish promoter Brian Peters has made an improved offer of 60,000 to Rendall Munroe to defend his European super-bantamweight title against Bernard Dunne in Dublin.

A bout between the pair has been mooted ever since Munroe claimed the title in March with a points win over Kiko Martinez, the man who dethroned Dunne as champion last year.

However, a deal has yet to be reached due to both fighters – or perhaps their respective promoters – apparent reluctance to give away home advantage to the other.

Peters, though, is hoping that his latest offer will tempt Munroe into travelling across the Irish Sea, particularly in light of the fact that the Leicester native has signed to defend his title against Fabrizio Trotta in Dublins Helix arena on December 18.

Indeed, Peters is hoping that Munroe, who will be in the Irish capital on Monday for a pre-fight press conference, will explain why he is ducking Dunne.

If Bernard fought this guy [Trotta] wed be crucified, but good luck to Munroe, he said.

He or at least Frank Maloney can obviously afford to turn down these offers. Ill be intrigued to hear tomorrow, straight from the horses mouth just why Munroe isnt interested in making what he supposedly considers an easy 60,000.

Theyve said they dont rate Bernard as any threat so why not take the money thats on offer? Can Frank guarantee me, or more importantly for Munroes sake, can he guarantee Rendall that he will make the kind of money Im offering him for one fight in his next 3 fights combined?

Id certainly be very interested in hearing the answers to all these questions tomorrow although presumably excuses about mandatory defences and television obligations will be trottered out. Or maybe theyll show a bit of imagination and come up with a new excuse.

Peters increased his offer after Dunnes points win over Cristian Faccio in Mayo on Saturday night, but that victory was marred by the savage cut sustained by the Dubliner midway through the seventh round following a sickening clash of heads.

The gash, which resulted in the bout being stopped prematurely, will lead to a longer-than-planned spell out of the ring for Dunne but he remains firmly focused on securing securing a big fight in the early part of 2009.

However, Peters does not believe that Munroe will be his mans next opponent and is instead target a world title shot.

Im not expecting them [Maloney and Munroe] to accept to be honest and anyway a world title fight remains our priority but Bernard can always make time for reclaiming the European title on the way, he explained.

I had the fabulous new O2 Arena in Dublin booked for January 31st and I was hopeful of delivering Bernard his world title chance then but the cut suffered against Faccio will likely postpone that but well see how it heals up and we can target a new date then.

Ive already spoken with some of the world champions at both super bantam and feather and I believe I can tempt them to Dublin. Clearly there are some champions out there willing to accept a decent payday in Dublin even if Munroe isnt.

Dunne, meanwhile, is equally pessimistic about his chances of being granted a crack at his old title.

I dont think its going to happen, he admitted. “Brian has already made him a couple of very lucrative offers and for whatever reason they said they werent interested in fighting me in Dublin, yet hes going to be here next month defending his title.

I respect Rendall, hes a good fighter and maybe if it was down to him hed take the fight but for whatever reason his team dont seem interested so if thats the case well move on.

I feel Im ready now for that world title fight anyway. The clash of heads aside I was very happy with my performance on Saturday and I want to really step it up from here on in.