BOXING:European super-bantamweight champion Bernard Dunne yesterday announced he will be taking on 29-year-old Yersin Jailauov in the first defence of his European title at The Point Depot on March 25th. The fight will complete an attractive weekend of sport in Dublin with Ireland's Euro 2008 qualifying match against Wales at Croke Park taking place the previous day.

Dunne has also been ranked by the WBO organisation as the seventh best fighter in the world in his weight division and is highly ranked by three of the other organisations as well as been placed at 10 in the prestigious Ring ratings.

He is now the only active Irish fighter rated by Ring Magazine.

The defence is Dunne's first Sunday evening fight and once again the organisers are expecting to fill the venue, as he did for his European title fight against Esham Pickering, when over 7,000 paid in and 500,000 tuned in to watch the televised live fight on RTÉ.

His manager, Brian Peters, said he has found great difficulty in finding opponents who are prepared to travel to Dublin to face Dunne. Ill-founded rumours have swept through the sport saying that the Irishman was about to vacate the European belt for a crack at a world title, resulting in fighters becoming even less willing to meet him as they delayed for the vacancy at European level.

That, however, has never been the case and Dunne will have several bouts before looking to step up to the world level.

He already has a mandatory defence scheduled to take place in May or June after, presumably, defeating the Kazakhstan challenger.

"It (European belt) looks very nice on my mantelpiece and that's where it will be staying," said Dunne yesterday.

"I've worked hard all my life to become the European champion and I really want to make my mark at this level before we go after the world title."

Peters was also quick to point out that his fighter has only once boxed over 12 rounds and that was in his title fight against Pickering. The talented Dunne is at an advanced stage in his career but the collective wisdom in his camp is justifiably leaning towards more time and experience at European level before stepping up to meet the cream of American and South American fighters.

"Rushing him to a world title fight would make no sense at the moment," said Peters.

"For example when Barry McGuigan won the European title he had eight more fights before he took on Eusebio Pedroza for the world title, so it is important not to rush things.

"The great thing about Bernard is that he is still improving and hopefully he will demonstrate that this year by mopping up in Europe.

"There are some very good fighters in the EBU's list of challengers but we are willing to take on all-comers."

His challenger from Kazakhstan, Jailauov, enjoyed an exceptional amateur career before moving into the professional code in 2000.

In 1998 he won at the Goodwill Games in New York and beat local favourite Roberto Benitez to take the gold medal. So far in his professional career he has won 19 fights from 23 outings.

Controversially, he was stopped in the second round last year in a challenge fight against the then European champion, Paul Hunter. Hunter, who was in Dunne's sights for a while, moved to another weight division.

"He jumped at the chance to fight Bernard because he was so disgusted at the early stoppage in his fight with Hunter, so he sees this as a chance to make amends," said Peters.

Dunne has seen only those opening rounds of the Hunter fight and nothing else of Jailauov.

But he is hardly likely to assume anything given that it was another Eastern European fighter, Yuri Voronin, who almost derailed his burgeoning career when he caught Dunne in the closing minutes of their 2005 meeting and came close to nicking a fight that he had soundly lost in the previous rounds.

"Jailauov won't be afraid of coming to Dublin either. He fought Hunter in England and has also fought in Spain and Thailand.

"However, I think he is in for a new experience when he samples the atmosphere at a Bernard Dunne fight," said Peters.

Now a father to seven-month-old Caoimhe, the next few years should be Dunne's golden years. Off to training camp on Monday morning, the celebrity stops on television and radio will go on hold, save perhaps for a Late Late Show appearance closer to the fight.

"As big as her oul fella now," quipped Dunne as his daughter introduced herself. Maybe, but probably not for long.