Fagan stops Scifo in just 83 seconds

OISIN FAGAN made a dramatic return to his home town by stopping Richie Scifo in 1 min 23 secs of their lightweight contest at the National Stadium last night.

The 31-year-old Dubliner had never boxed in the National Stadium before. In fact he only had three amateur fights in six years before he went to Oklahoma on a soccer scholarship.

In soccer he made his name but, like boxing, he struggled for recognition until he played for Portmarnock in two Leinster Cup finals. That won him his scholarship to the US where he went on to work at a number of jobs - carpenter, delicatessen, physical fitness instructor - en route to his degree in political journalism.