Dunne admits to getting wake-up call from Voronin

Brendan Mooney

Dunne preserved his unbeaten professional record, despite a shaky final round, to trump Voronin ranked seventh in Europe on points.

"I learned that the fight is not over until the final bell and that you cannot take chances," the Dublin fighter said yesterday.

"And I also learned that there some guys who just won't go down no matter what you throw at them. He is one of those and I don't think there will be too many of the top guys who will want to fight him in the future," Dunne admitted.

"But it was a great fight to win," he said. "I dominated the fight for nine rounds and I just don't know how David Irving could have given two rounds to Voronin because I clearly won the third and ninth rounds. But then it was just lack of concentration in the last round.

"I was on my toes at the start of the round I mean I was hopping around, I was flying."

Then came a crashing left hook to the back of his right ear .

"It was now a matter of survival," he admitted. "I just had to regain my composure and it was important that I did not go down."

It was then that the damage he had inflicted on the Ukrainian in the earlier rounds began to show.

"You could see that I had caused a lot of damage. I had caught him with a lot of big punches, some damaging body shots and there were a couple to the chin which, I thought, might have ended the contest. But he was still there in my face but he was exhausted. My punching had just worn him out.

"It all means I can talk to the likes of Nicky Cook about a European title fight. I can negotiate now."

Meanwhile Andy Lee has dismissed speculation that he is about to sign a professional contract with Emmanuel Steward.

The Olympian accepted a deal from the Irish Sports Council to remain in the amateur ranks up to the Beijing Olympics. Lee is resting a troublesome hand injury and has been released from the Irish team for next month's European Union championships in Italy.

"It is only a slight problem but we decided to rest it," he said. "It has been niggling for some time so I will give it a good rest and then get on with my preparations for the world championships. At the moment they are my priority."