Dunne wins title in front of home crowd

Irishman Bernard Dunne is the new European super-bantamweight boxing champion.

In front of a capacity seven-thousand crowd at the Point last night, the Dubliner scored a unanimous points victory over the UK's Esham Pickering to claim the vacant title.

Attacking his opponent straight from the start, Dunne almost ended the fight in the second round, stopped only by the intervention of the referee.

Pickering got a bloody nose early in the fight while Dunne also got cut in a clash of heads.

Although Pickering came back in the sixth and seventh round, Dunne did enough to win the clash.

“I felt fantastic in there,” he said.

“I thought I was boxing well. I said before the fight, I give Eshem all the respect, he deserved, because he's world class."