Darren John Sutherland (18 April 1982 – 14 September 2009) was an Irish

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

from

Mulhuddart Mulhuddart () is an outer suburb situated 12 km (7.456 miles) north-west of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The River Tolka passes near the village. Mulhuddart is also a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in the Barony (Irelan ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. His

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

career was crowned by a

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

bronze medal.

Early life

Sutherland was born in Dublin to Linda from

Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway (Ireland), M50 motorway, and the N2 road (Ireland), N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Du ...

and Anthony Sutherland from Saint Vincent in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. The family lived in London until Darren was seven and then in Saint Vincent for four years, before returning to Dublin and latterly

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

, County Meath.

Amateur career

Sutherland represented the St Saviour's ABC in Dublin and won the

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

senior title in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He faced Edward Healy in the 2006 and 2007 Final and Darren O'Neill in 2008 winning all three. Sutherland's international career featured a great rivalry with Britain's

James DeGale James Frederick DeGale (born 3 February 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middlewe ...

, who later paid tribute to Sutherland upon winning his first professional world title in 2015.

2007 EU Amateur Championships

At the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

EU Amateur Championships in

, Sutherland won gold at

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

. Results were: * Mario Duro: Won - RSC (Round 3) * Ivano Del Monte: Won - PTS (32:19) *

: Won - PTS (23:19)

2008 EU Amateur Championships

At the

EU Amateur Championships in Cetniewo, Sutherland won gold at

. Results were: * Samy Anouche: Won - PTS (28:12) *

Stefan Härtel Stefan Härtel (born 6 February 1988) is a German professional boxer who held the European super-middleweight title in 2019. As an amateur, Härtel represented Germany at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals of the middleweight bracket ...

: Won - PTS (20:9) *

: Won - PTS (22:16)

2008 Olympic Games

At the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Sutherland won bronze at

. Results were: *First round bye: Advanced *

Nabil Kassel Nabil Kassel (born March 10, 1984) is an Algerian boxer best known for winning the middleweight gold at the 2007 All-Africa Games. The family name is Kassel, Algerians generally write this first ( Kassel Nabil). Career Kassel participated at the ...

: Won - RSC (Round 4) * Alfonso Blanco: Won - PTS (11-1) *

: Lost - PTS (3-10)

Professional career

Following the exposure gained at the Olympics, Sutherland was offered a number of contracts as a professional boxer. In October 2008 he signed terms with London-based promoter

Frank Maloney Kellie Maloney (formerly Frank Maloney; born 23 January 1953) is an English boxing manager and promoter, and television personality. Maloney managed Lennox Lewis, who won the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world, between 1989 and ...

. On 18 December 2008, Sutherland made a winning start to his professional career with a first-round knockout of Georgi Iliev in Dublin. After the bout, Sutherland's promoter Frank Maloney said "I think we've found a real superstar here tonight and this is just the start of a long journey". His next fight, against Siarhei Navarka on 6 March at Robin Park Arena in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, ended with Sutherland winning by a third round stoppage. Sutherland won his third fight at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

on 29 May against Vepkhia Tchilaia. Sutherland won his next fight against Gennadiy Rasalev in

York Hall The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure centre in Bethnal Green, London. The building opened in 1929 and it is most famous as an international boxing venue with the first nights o ...

, London.

Death

On 14 September 2009, Sutherland was found dead with his wrists bound at his apartment in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

by his promoter,

. It was alleged he died by hanging himself. He was depressed. Olympic gold medalist,

commented on the death: "It is very, very sad news - I just can't believe it, It is a tragedy. First and foremost, my heart goes out to his family. I just could not believe it; my heart went to the floor when I heard. He was a big part of my Olympic medal journey and it is just terrible. I just do not know what to say except that he was a brilliant fighter, in fact an excellent fighter, and he was a gentleman outside the ring as well. He had an Olympic bronze medal and his whole life to look forward to. He had a great future, and my heart goes out to everyone who knew him." His corpse was exhumed in September 2010 for a private postmortem at his family's request. An

open verdict The open verdict is an option open to a coroner's jury at an inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict means the jury confirms the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other verdicts open to them. Mortality studies ...

was delivered at the inquest in March 2012. Following Sutherland's death, DeGale kept the initials "DS" on his shorts in professional bouts. When he won the IBF

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

world title against

Andre Dirrell Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger brother Anthony Dirrell is also a professional boxer. Amateur career ...

in 2015, he spoke post-fight of his relationship with Sutherland and dedicated the victory to him. "It's for Darren Sutherland as well, of course. My late rival" he said. "When he took his life back in 2009 it was horrendous. From when he passed, I've always had 'DS' on my shorts. And this world title is for him as well. A great guy. A great fighter. Unbelievable fighter. We've had some great, great scraps. It's for him."

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Darren 1982 births 2009 suicides 2009 deaths Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Ireland Olympic bronze medalists for Ireland Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Irish male boxers Middleweight boxers Suicides by hanging in England Boxers from County Dublin People with mood disorders Irish people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines descent Irish people of Afro-Caribbean descent 21st-century Irish sportsmen