McLaughlin shock at Sutherland death

Inishowen boxing star William McLaughlin has expressed his upset at the death of his former room-mate and Olympic medal winning boxer Darren Sutherland. The middleweight was found dead at his home in London by his manager Frank Maloney on Monday afternoon and police are not treating his death as suspicious. Sutherland turned professional after last summers Olympics and was considered a genuine world title contender within the sport. “I still can’t believe what’s happened to be honest,” admitted McLaughlin. “I’d roomed with him a few times including the Olympic qualifiers in Athens and at the EU Championships in Poland. “He was in Dublin when we were heading away for the EUs and he himself, he had a fight next month and he seemed in fine form but he did comment on how easy we had it as amateurs.” “He was a great fella who was mad about boxing. I know from talking to Stephen (Friel) that the pro business can be a lonely experience and I know Darren loved to have people around him so maybe that was getting to him.” William is back in Inishowen after he cemented his world class reputation by finishing in the last eight of the World Championships in Milan before finally being defeated by Russia’s Andrey Zamkovoy on a score of 16-7. The Illies Golden Gloves clubman admits that his performance at the tournament vindicates his decision not to turn professional over the summer. “Milan definitely surpassed all my expectations, I wouldn’t have been expected to defeat the Georgian in the last 16 but I dealt with him comfortably,” he said. “The Russian was difficult, when we looked at the dvds on the morning of the fight I thought I could beat him but he was very tall and strong and I struggled to get near him. I’ve definitely learned from the experience though.” Looking to the future William will continue his weekly trips to Dublin to train with the High Performance Programme and will defend his Irish title in January before focusing on the European Championships next March and then the commonwealth games in October 2010. “The hardest battle for Irish boxers at the moment is winning the national title. I know there will be plenty of boxers waiting to knock me off my perch but I’m determined to hold onto my Irish title. “If you’d have asked me about the Olympic games after the EU Championships I wouldn’t have been able to think about them as I was weighing up my options about turning pro. But the progame is in decline at the moment and ticket sales are down so I’m glad I can focus on more long term goals like the Olympics now.” He concluded.