Boxing:Ireland's Bernard Dunne suffered a stunning 86-second defeat at the hands of Spain's Kiko Martinez in the third defence of his European super-bantamweight title in the Point Arena last night.
The Irish hero was sent to the canvas twice within a minute and a further onslaught from Martinez led referee Terry O'Connor to step in and call it off.
Dunne, who suffered the first defeat of his professional career, saw his world title plans dashed by the hard-hitting Spaniard who now boasts a record of 14 knock-outs in 17 victories.
The packed arena was stunned when Dunne went down from a quick flurry of punches and although he did not seem badly hurt, Martinez quickly followed up and put him on the canvas once again with an overhand right.
Clearly struggling to cope with the challenger's aggression Dunne tried to circle the ring and stay out of trouble but Martinez was not about to let him off the hook.
The Spaniard marched forward, cornered Dunne against the ropes and as the Irishman tried to land his own blows Martinez tagged him with a double left hook and a right hand which led O'Connor to bring about the finish.
Speaking after the fight Dunne admitted he had "been caught cold" by Martinez but insisted he'd bounce back.
"I make no excuses whatsoever. I was in fantastic shape, I trained hard. Everything went perfectly. There are no excuses on my behalf whatsoever," said Dunne.
"Kiko won the title fair and square and he's the champion now.
"I have belief in myself. Being nailed in the first round and caught cold, doesn't make me any less of a fighter than I was before I was in with this guy.
"I still have the same talent I went in with, its just Kiko caught me with a cracking shot and that was it.
"What happened out there, happens in boxing and thats just it. I got caught and there is nothing I can do about that now."
While obviously disappointed, Dunne was adamant that he'd recover from the defeat.
"I've got get myself back in that ring, sit back and watch the
tape and see where I went wrong, see where I got caught with the
shot and hopefully it never happens again," he said.
"I'm disgusted, I feel like I let myself down, my team down.
I think I let the people down."