The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
‘Deadly’ Dean is all fired up for title fight
Undefeated Aberdeen welterweight Dean Sutherland will fight for an international title at Hamilton Academical’s stadium next month.
The 22-year-old will fight for a major title in the outdoor show on the New Douglas Park pitch on Friday July 16.
Boasting a flawless pro record of 10 wins from 10 fights, Sutherland’s title shot will be broadcast live on Fightzone TV.
Sutherland, aka “Deadly”, also confirmed there are plans for a home fight at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen later this year.
The international title shot will be Sutherland’s first fight since boxing went into cold storage due to the coronavirus pandemic last March.
Sutherland will look to add to the BUI Celtic welterweight title he won in June 2019.
Also confirmed on the bill is Northern Sporting Club’s undefeated Aberdeenbased super-bantamweight Billy Stuart, who will also fight for a title.
Sutherland and Stuart both signed up with renowned promoter Dennis Hobson’s Fight Academy in November last year.
Hobson oversaw the rise of Ricky Hatton, David Haye and Clinton Woods to world title glory.
The title fights at Hamilton will be Sutherland and Stuart’s first under Hobson and his Fight Academy stable.
Sutherland said: “To get a fight of this magnitude confirmed is fantastic. I am so glad to be fighting for my first international title.
“I am waiting on confirmation of the exact title and who I will be fighting.
“There is so much hype and excitement as the event will be outdoors at a football stadium so hopefully it will be nice weather. I have been down to see the set-up and met everyone involved with the team.
“That got me really excited and up for this fight at Hamilton.
“It will be such a big boxing show in Scotland with five title fights out of the nine bouts.
“I am so glad to be part of it and to be fighting for my first international title.
“It is a great platform for myself and I cannot wait to go out there and put on a fantastic performance and win the title.”
The Hamilton event will be the first Fightzone show in Scotland and will also include title fights involving Scottish lightweight champion Calvin McCord, Celtic featherweight titleholder Nathaniel Collins and WBO middleweight champion Hannah Rankin.
Sutherland experienced the ambition of Fightzone TV first-hand last week when he travelled down to Sheffield to watch the British super bantamweight title eliminator between Marc Leach and Thomas Essomba.
He said: “The production team from Fightzone are top drawer, I saw that when I was down at the fight in Sheffield last week.
“Myself and Billy went to Manchester on the Friday for sparring and we got some good rounds.
“Then we went to Sheffield on Saturday night to watch three of my Kynoch Boxing stablemates who were on that show.
“It was exciting to see how professional everything is.”
The former multiple weight world kick-boxing champion has not fought since a 59-56 points defeat of Basi Rasaq at the Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley, on February 8 last year as his progress was derailed by the pandemic.
Sutherland has used that time wisely and insists he will return to the ring even better equipped to push for more title success.
He also revealed there are plans for him to fight in a homecoming show at the city’s iconic Beach Ballroom in November.
He said: “We will have this big one in Hamilton, win the title. Then we are speaking about taking it up to Aberdeen in November and having a major show at the Beach Ballrooom.”