BOXING/European Super Bantamweight title fight:"This is the weight of the new European champion," quipped Norway's Reidar Walstad as the scales tipped 121.2 lbs yesterday. "He must be on something if he's thinking he's going home with the European belt," Bernard Dunne shot back as he peeled down to his spare 122lb frame and grinned out at the television cameras, family members, trainers, doctors, officials, children, ex-champs, promotions people, curiosity seekers, hotel staff and journalists.

Everyone milled around in the tight, sweaty room of the south Dublin hotel and, as ever, most eyes fell on the Irishman in the jocks, happily flexing his biceps.

Without that menacing look in his eyes, the one he takes to the ring, Dunne's preparatory work is now complete after a tough stretch in the West Belfast gym under the gaze of Harry Hawkins and rolling with the punches of a pair of South American fighters, flown in to ensure he enters the ring in the Point tonight toughened and battle hardened.

"When you have a couple of Venezuelans trying to beat the s**t out of you . . . you can hit them all night and they keep coming, they keep working," he said. "They know their style. They have that real professional style. Everything has gone spot-on. I'm in great form. I go in smiling and I come out smiling."

It was another hour of organised chaos, conductor and Boxing Union of Ireland president Mel Christle at the front table orchestrating the assembly line of weigh-ins and medicals.

Angel McKenzie, the strangest-named Muscovite in boxing, blinged out right to the roots of her bottle-blonde hair, shook off her shoes and easily made the 140lb weight limit, the jewellery alone accounting for significant add-on weight. Her bout against the New Yorker with Irish roots Jill Emery in a light welterweight contest will be the first professional women's fight ever staged in Ireland.

But again it is Dunne and his self-styled Viking opponent topping the bill tonight for what will be the Irishman's second defence of the European super bantamweight title he won in beating England's Esham Pickering earlier this year.

The Norwegian is third in the European rankings and arrives in Ireland looking for a chink in Dunne's defence that will allow him land a knockout blow against a more technically accomplished fighter.

"I set up a training camp in London and I've also been sparring with some very good fighters," said Walstad. "I've sparred a lot of high-quality rounds and the fact that I've beaten Bernard gives me a lot of confidence that I will do it again.

"I know we are both professional now but for me Bernard still fights the same as he did back then."

Back then was when the two were teenagers and they met in the European Amateur Championships in 1998. On that occasion Walstad was the winner and his belief is when Dunne tires he will revert to his old style of nine years ago and become vulnerable again. It's an unlikely theory but boxing has a way of hitting you when you least expect it.

"That's just fight talk," observed Dunne. "That's all it is. If he watches any tapes of me, he'll definitely be worried going into the fight. That's for sure. I'd definitely be better than most (super bantamweights). I'm strong and he has never faced anyone of my calibre.

"I hope it (amateur win) gives him a bit of confidence and he comes out to have a go. He fancies himself as a digger and I'm sure he's going to come aggressively. Irish boxing fans should be happy about that because they are going to see a bit of action."

That defeat was one of only 11 suffered by Dunne in an amateur career decorated with 119 wins. He is unbeaten in 23 fights since turning professional in 2001.

Tonight's highlight is also fronted by several other interesting contests. Neil Sinclair has a final chance of getting his career back on track when he faces England's "Fearless" Francis Jones. The contest will effectively double as a title eliminator, the winner getting a crack at the British title, one Sinclair once held.

Also on the undercard is the Oklahoma elementary school teacher, Oisín Fagan, who left Dublin's Portmarnock for the US to take up a soccer scholarship. A knee injury put paid to that and he tried boxing to stay fit. Now Irish light welterweight champion, he faces England's Chill John over eight rounds.

European Super bantamweight defence

Bernard Dunne (Dublin) v Reidar Walstad (Norway)

Welterweight

Neil Sinclair (Belfast) v Francis Jones (England)

Light welterweight

Oisín Fagan (Dublin) v Chill John (England)

Light welterweight

Jill Emery (New York) v Angel McKenzie (Moscow)

Middleweight

Lukasz Wawrzyczek (Poland) v Ciarán Healy (Belfast)

Super featherweight

Patrick Hyland (Dublin) v Lajos Beller (Hungary)

Heavyweight

John Timlin (Mayo) v Roland Horvath (Hungary)