BOXING/European super-bantamweight title fight:If boxing can occasionally rise above the catcalls and thuds, the braying of the crowd and the spilling of blood, then Saturday night showcased the technical mastery of Bernard Dunne and the unadorned bravery of the little Norwegian challenger Reidar "The Viking" Walstad.
Notwithstanding that this second defence of Dunne's European super bantamweight crown was rarely in doubt - and that an unsightly gash opened above Walstad's left eye in the seventh round required the ring doctor to twice examine the wound - the bout was a triumph for both fighters.
If fortitude can be measured in the amount of punishment a body accepts without complaint, then Walstad, sturdy and squat and a few inches smaller that the Dubliner, was heroic in the face of Dunne's magisterial superiority and technical precision.
But in all of that, this was not a drawn-out slaughter over 12 rounds, and even though Dunne did much of his work with a thin spray of the 30-year-old's blood like a lotion on his chest, Walstad's swinging, attacking style meant there was always the slight worry that at some point he would land a telling blow.
The night was half-party, half-sport, The Point, packed with almost 7,000 fans, half-raucous, half-solemn as the Norwegian tried to ice their man by trying to get in close and turn the fight into a slugfest.
But the defending champion kept his discipline, and as Walstad hoped for and sought the game of flailing fists that might have reduced the fight to a lottery, Dunne stood back, his left jab routinely knocking back one of the few men that had beaten him in his amateur days.
"He wasn't rated as one of the best fighters in the world but he was a hardy hoor," said Dunne later. "Our styles clashed a bit. Every time I dipped to throw, we just clashed heads.
"It was tough and hard work. I needed it. I never thought it was going to be an early night. And that's why I trained so hard."
Astonishingly, one judge, the Spaniard Jose Vilas Muller, marked Dunne a mere two-round winner, 115-113, prompting Dunne to comment, "Ridiculous, totally ridiculous. I definitely won the first half-dozen rounds."
The other two, Richard Davies of England and Heinrich Muhmet of Germany, saw the fight as most did and marked it 116-112 and 118-111, a unanimous decision.
"He's a bit taller than me and he always kept his distance," said Walstad, who has never fought in Norway since the government banned the sport in 1981. "It was hard to get close. He was just a bit far away for me to get those shots in at the beginning."
The 27-year-old Dunne's next assignment will bring him into the ring with the mandatory challenger, Kiko Martinez, a 21-year-old Spaniard who is 16-0 and has been taken the distance only three times.
Win there and Dunne will be seeking a world belt. But the fight may not be in Dublin and as promoter Brian Peters waits to see what a purse bid will offer, he knows it may not be in the Point, which will be unavailable because of renovation. At the end of August, the European Boxing Union will be issuing a bid.
"I'd be confident of fighting him anywhere," said Dunne. "Obviously it doesn't make sense for me to leave Ireland with this support I have. But if push comes to shove I'm confident of fighting anybody anywhere."
Confidence oozed from the champion from the start, though Walstad later suggested Dunne should move up a weight and develop more power.
But with the dark, deep-set eyes looking even more menacing than usual, Dunne - with his greater height, speed and incessant left jab - had Walstad chasing from the first bell, picking him off and initially trying to sweep uppercuts under the challenger's defence.
Walstad bustled forward but was seldom allowed to operate in range as Dunne manoeuvred him around the ring.
A punch opened the cut over Walstad's eye - which would need 10 stitches later - and then a clash of heads opened it deeper, prompting the referee, Luigi Muratore of Italy, to twice invoke the doctor in the seventh round.
By then the champion was operating in a comfort zone and despite the distracting music bizarrely piped into the arena as the two men fought, Dunne's intensity and concentration did not falter.
While Walstad sought the one big punch that could rock his opponent, Dunne was careful not to trade for more than the occasional flurry. At the end, Walstad's sustained effort fell well short, though his persistence and heart drew a standing ovation.
On the final bell Dunne jumped on the ropes and screamed, "I'm the champion," as the crowd surged toward the ring.
It was another chapter complete. A European belt and two defences inside eight months. The show remains firmly on the road.
European Super bantamweight
Bernard Dunne bt Reidar Walstad unanimous points decision
International Welterweight
Francis Jones bt Neil Sinclair KO 5th rnd
International Light welterweight
Oisin Fagan bt Chill John on points (77-66)
International Women's Welterweight
Jill Emery bt Angel McKenzie on points (80-72)
International Middleweight
Lukasz bt Ciaran Healy on points (78-75)
International Super Featherweight
Patrick Hyland bt Lajos Beller RSF 53 seconds
International Heavyweight
John Timlin bt Roland Horvath on points (40-36)
