BOXING: And so Bernard Dunne has answered. For three years since he set off on the path from Los Angeles under trainer Freddie Roach, people privately questioned whether it was all too good to be true and in the same breath would utter the names of two former world champions, Barry McGuigan and Wayne McCullough. But from the first punch he threw in the professional ranks, superbantamweight Dunne has been the guiding light of Irish boxing.

Few careers had received a bigger billing from so early, yet through all the twists and turns, the questions were publicly tabled - questions about his staying power, his defence and his ability to marshal his natural talents into a unit capable of beating fighters that inhabit the thin layer at the top of the sport.

Dunne, with 7,000 emotional, howling fans urging him to the European title against England's Esham Pickering, has answered.

In the dramatic sense, it was not sensational. It was not controversial. It was not fuelled with allegations or split decisions, or even with "the luck of the Irish". It was not fraught. There were few pivotal moments. It was neither brutally one-sided nor a battle where one arcing punch might have finished it for either man. It was not laced with venom or animosity. Nor did it lapse into pantomime. The European superbantamweight title was tantalisingly within sight of Pickering but over 12 rounds never conceivably out of reach for the Dubliner.

Saturday night at the Point was Dunne pared back to his essential magnificence, the man from Neilstown shorn of the showboating of previous fights, the dropping of hands and the theatrical switching of shoulders.

Even the entrance - after the 30-year-old Pickering had been deliberately kept waiting for almost 15 minutes stewing in the ring as a few coins were thrown - was less flamboyant.

This was Dunne the stylist, who for two of the three judges, Frenchman Jean-Louis Legland and Dane Freddy Christensen, lost only three of the 12 rounds in a 117-111 decision. The third judge, Germany's Kurt Stroer, awarded Pickering a more eccentric five rounds for a 115-113 score and a unanimous decision.

After 21 straight professional wins Dunne largely controlled the fight, choreographing each round with assuredness and technique and increasing ring-craft.

Awash with the blood that had started to pump in the fourth round from Pickering's nose and didn't stop, Dunne set the tone, using quick hands and agility to constantly pick off the Englishman and in the latter stages wrap him up.

In the second round Dunne might have finished it prematurely. He landed three rights in rapid succession and sent Pickering careering sideways. The Irishman followed up, only to be halted by the bell and the Italian referee Massimo Barrovecchoi.

"I'm not knocking him but I didn't think he was hitting me," said the disconsolate loser afterwards. "He has a nice work-rate. He fiddled me around inside. He did a great job."

From that rattling second round Pickering set out on an industrious course and energetically maintained the tempo to the end, Dunne taking the intensity in his stride.

Breaking Dunne's defence in the eighth and 12th rounds, Pickering remained competitive, but as the fight progressed a knockout became his only viable option. That the 12th round was marked as Pickering's by all three judges reflected those last, desperate attempts to turn it around.

Dunne's strength was his composure and belief in his own fleet footwork and ability to slide Pickering's attack and constantly pick him off with jabs and body punches, and even when not controlling the round he was marginally in retreat.

"I felt fantastic in there and I thought I was boxing well," said the grazed and bruised champion, the first Dubliner to claim a European title in his home town and only the seventh Irishman to win one.

"I said before the fight I'll give Esham all the respect he deserves because he's world class. I wasn't making predictions because I knew how good he was. But this is my time. I've been guided well. It just came off fantastically well.

"No doubt it was my hardest fight. But I think I belong at this level and I'll improve there."

Manager Brian Peters was loath to say what direction Dunne's career will take from here. But with the Point sold out more than a week before the fight, they won't want to leave Dublin for his first few defences unless the financial rewards justify it. World titles are in his sights and well within his ability. But not immediately.

"Tonight Bernard proved to the world that he is a good fighter," said Peters.

"Bernard will go on to prove that he is a great fighter and bring a world title to Dublin."

"I think we'll mop up Europe before we start thinking of a world title."

Maybe Peters is unique among boxing promoters and managers. He said Dunne would fight for a European title this year and a world title next year. So far 26-year-old Dunne has kept his promise.