It would be totally ridiculous for anybody who might claim to have an insider's view of the ways of boxing to suggest that Wayne McCullough would take the WBO world featherweight title from Prince Naseem Hamed at the Atlantic City Boardwalk tonight.

And yet there remains the residual hope that this Hallowe'en "good" might prevail over "evil".

Naseem has antagonised even the keenest of his admirers in the build-up to this fight by disputing the contributions of his trainer Brendan Ingle as well as those of everybody else, while making it clear that he has no respect for anyone.

Not many people outside the boxing profession are aware that there is a profound, almost masonic, code of ethics, among boxers. No boxer, up until now at any rate, has ever vowed to deliberately endanger the life or livelihood of any opponent. Naseem, for whatever reason, has breached that code and has gone so far as to suggest that he hates and despises his opponents.

That is why those of us who have observed this game over a lengthy period and who have come to know boxing folk, are almost unanimously against Naseem in his bid tonight to extend his unbeaten run and retain his world title.

What McCullough has done here in Atlantic City this week is to bring the general public to his side with his calm, and his charm and his refusal to become involved in verbal battles outside the ring. His impressive demeanour seems at odds with that of the hyperactive Naseem. McCullough has brought to this fight a dignity and a genuine Irish colour that has been lacking since the hey-day of Barry McGuigan.

The young Belfast man has a right to be regarded as one of Ireland's best and most formidable champions in a sport in which Ireland has distinguished itself. Nevertheless, his chances of victory tonight seem profoundly limited.

Naseem has brought a new dimension to the featherweight division of boxing and indeed, to boxing itself, dressed up as it is in its new-found televisual garments.

McCullough's chances of victory here tonight seem slim when even Belfast bookmakers are quoting him as a very long shot. However, Belfast bookies do not - normally at any rate - inhabit boxing rings in Atlantic City. The feeling here among a huge contingent of Irish supporters is that if McCullough gets past the fifth round he will have an outsider's chance of winning on points over 12. Few, however, believe that he has the punching power to end it within the distance, while Hamed has both the speed and the punching power to end it early.

In spite of Hamed's brazen and overbearing self-confidence, there would appear to be within his camp a certain lack of belief, and those little indications are being seized upon by supporters of McCullough in the hope that an unlikely outcome might be achieved.

Realistically, however, it has to be admitted that a victory for McCullough would be a sensational one and would result in the young Belfast man's elevation to the highest level in Irish sporting life.

It is devoutly wished for; and miracles sometimes do happen.