Irish boxers Jim Rock and Cathal O'Grady registered impressive wins against US-based opposition on Saturday on promoter Ken Kosla's delayed St Patrick's Day card at the Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown Worcester.

Rock, the Irish light-middleweight champion, scored a sixth-round knockout of Dorchester journeyman Hollister Elliott, while O'Grady stopped Hartford veteran Jose Torres in the third.

Although Rock had dominated his contest against the Trinidad-born Elliott, he seemed even more surprised than ringside onlookers as he watched referee Paul Casey count Elliott out.

The Castleknock fighter had backed his quarry into a corner, and as Elliott stumbled coming off the ropes, Rock grazed him with a left-right combination. The exchange hardly appeared lethal, but Elliott went down as if he had been shot.

"It wasn't a punch as good as several I hit him with earlier," said Rock, now 19-1 as a pro. "I think he just got tired of the pressure and wanted to quit."

Elliott (now 5-13-1) claimed he had been thumbed in the left eye, an explanation which seemed unsatisfactory even to his own corner. "He shoulda looked out his other eye, then," grumbled trainer Jimmy Farrell.

O'Grady (15-2) displayed patience in solving the awkward style of Torres (10-44-3). He eventually caught him flush on the jaw with a big left hand late in the third. "I knew I'd hurt him the moment I hit him," said O'Grady. "It was really the first good, solid punch I'd landed."

The evening was not without its moments of levity. In the opening seconds of the women's bout, bantamweight Yolanda Gonzalez belted her losing opponent Nicole Hancock with a right hand that sent what proved to be Hancock's black wig flying across the ring.

"At first I thought somebody had thrown a skunk into the ring," said referee Casey.

Rock, who is scheduled to headline an April 20th boxing card at the Burlington Hotel, hopes to return to the States for a summertime fight in Boston.