Damien McKenna, Ireland's 26-year-old bantamweight champion from Drogheda, bamboozled an aggressive Chinese opponent in Rong Zhao to resuscitate Ireland's medal prospects in the world championships at the Belfast Odyssey Arena yesterday.

Few boxers pace themselves better or retain their composure and confidence as McKenna did in a contest in which he came from behind for a 137 win. "He was a very powerful lad but I knew my boxing skills would tell in the end," said a pleased McKenna. The Chinese champion seemed intent on winning in the shortest possible time but McKenna was not to be hustled despite shipping some round-the-houses rights to the head. He survived that early storm as well as a doctor's inspection on a nick on the bridge of his nose.

When Rong Zhao was only adjudged to be 3-1 ahead at the end of that bruising first round, McKenna seemed flattered. But he bided his time, found superb variation of punch in the second session and forced his opponent to recoil and think twice about taking liberties.

McKenna took the round but remained a point adrift at 4-5 going into the third session. The Irishman's technically correct boxing turned the tide in the third round for a 10-7 lead, with the two-fisted power of the Chinese champion not nearly as apparent now. Instead, McKenna's in-range shots to head and body began to tell. A three-point cushion going into the last round meant McKenna's strategy had worked. The final round saw the mentally and physically stronger Irishman box cleverly on the retreat while denying his man a point in the final two minutes and picking up three for himself.

McKenna, in unison with the rest of the Irish team members, was fulsome in his praise of the collective one-month training camp in Limerick. "It has paid off so far," he said.

Liam Cunningham, the Irish flyweight champion from Belfast played a major role in those practice sessions with McKenna. "I did a lot of work with Liam blocking shots and stuff like that and as seen in the fight, the body shots told in the end."

McKenna, employed as a quality auditor in a Dundalk factory, continued: "I know I have more boxing skills than a lot of these guys here. Many of them depend on pure physical strength. I regard this win as just one stepping-stone towards the medals."

The defeat of yet another American had some significance for McKenna. The Drogheda man had beaten Johnny Vasquez junior in the Ireland-US match at the National Stadium recently. Cunningham's own appearance in the ring was unfortunately brief after he was stopped by a particularly solid-hitting Ukraine champion in Volodymyr Sydorenko after little more than a minute. During that time he was caught by right hooks to the head twice and was duly directed back to his corner as his coach and father Harry sent in the towel.

Sydorenko had revealed much of the power and skill that have won him silver at the last world championships.

Said Cunningham senior: "Liam did not look over at me in the corner when he took the first punch and that for me said a lot. It's only the second time in his long career that he has been stopped and to be frank about it, he is gutted in there after all that preparation."

Light welterweight Michael Kelly of Dealgan and The Army was a latecomer to the sport but this was difficult to believe watching him crush the challenge of Olympic bronze medallist Allalou Mohamed of Algeria 17-7.

Kelly's astute defence in between cutting loose with solid combinations had the Algerian trailing from the first bell. Jim Moore, the popular Irish captain from Arklow, had to wait until the last contest of the night to lead by example. Moore, boxing cleverly behind a solid left jab, ousted Lithuanian Darius Jasevicius 14-11 to reach the welterweight quarter finals.