Sutherland cool and collected on debut

Dean Sutherland heads into his professional boxing debut in a more relaxed mindset than he has ever been, despite being a multiple world champion in kickboxing.

Aberdonian Sutherland faces Victor Edagha at Paisley tonight on MTK Scotland’s Summertime Brawl bill and has hailed the preparation from his camp in getting him ready.

Splitting his training time between Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow, Sutherland has sparred with title contenders Craig MacIntyre and Declan Geraghty in a bid to get him ready for Italian Edagha. It is his first fight as a senior boxer at just 19 after making the switch from kickboxing at the end of last year.

Edagha is winless from his 37 fights and the teenager has already spoken of his desire to finish the bout quickly, rather than try to gain experience and get rounds under his belt. Sutherland said: “It’s probably more exciting for me, even though it’s only a standard fight. With everyone around me it’s a lot more controlled, rather than doing some things randomly. It’s a lot better for fight preparation and I’m far more relaxed. I’m not someone who watches videos and analyses my opponent beforehand – the team around me can do that. I just like to go in and do my best.

“I’ve managed to get a good support to come down. Some of my family live there to and I’ve not seen them in a while, so they’ll get to see my fight. In general, the whole show will be good.

“With the experience I’ve had in kickboxing, I’ve developed a good fight IQ . I would say within 30 to 45 seconds, I’d be able to pick up on details or weaknesses. It’s something that’s a good advantage for me – I can see it, as well as my coaches. Once I get back in the corner, I can speak about a gameplan or how to change things.” You have heard of taking a weight off your shoulders.

But for taxi driver Martin Milne, he wants to put it on his shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest, back and legs to raise more than £2500 for a cancer charity.

Milne, from Turriff, will do 150 sets for a full body workout today, which will see him lifting the equivalent of 75 tonnes. He will complete 25 sets on each body part inside two hours as he looks to power through his target.

He said: “I’ve been training for the last two or three months for it and my personal trainer told me it’s never been done before, so I’m trying to see if I can do it.”

To read more about Martin’s challenge or to donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/ martin-milne1.