BOXING: A possible betting scam forced betting to be suspended on the Irish lightweight championship fight in the National Stadium on Saturday night.

The undercard bout to the Bernard Dunne-Noel Wilders fight featuring former World Boxing Union (WBU) champion Michael Gomez and Peter McDonagh ended in extraordinary circumstances late in the fifth round as McDonagh, against earlier odds of 125 to 1, brought the fight to an end.

The referee stopped the fight after Gomez turned his back after being caught by a left hand and walked to his corner.

The controversy arose as Boylesports had earlier suspended the betting on the fight because of what they said were unusual betting trends. They did not give odds for an outright winner of the contest, just the rounds for a stoppage.

Following heavy betting on McDonagh to win the bout in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth rounds at 125 to 1 and later 25 to 1, Boylesports closed the book.

"We are not saying anything untoward was going on but there were unusual betting trends on a certain outsider to win in certain rounds," said a company spokesman.

"You don't have to have a lot on to take thousands out with those odds. There were €20 bets and minutes later €50 bets. We then cuts the odds to 25 to 1 and there were still more inquiries from people wanting to put hundreds on.

"That's an awful lot of money to have on a round. The betting was suspended early afternoon. There was enough lost. We won't say how much but it was in the thousands."

The Boxing Union of Ireland, who govern professional boxing in Ireland, subsequently withheld the purses of both fighters for 21 days pending an investigation.

The issue was further clouded by the unusual nature of McDonagh's win and the continuing sideshow of spoon-bender Uri Geller, who was part of his corner. Geller met McDonagh on a flight, liked him and decided to help him turn around his boxing career. McDonagh needed something as his record before the weekend was that he'd lost 11 fights from 18 and won only one of his last seven. Gomez had won 32 of 38 fights including the world super-featherweight title.

Gomez's background is also the stuff of urban legend. Born in the back of a crashed car in Longford while his pregnant mother was being driven to hospital, Gomez (whose real surname is Armstrong) moved to Dublin and then to Manchester at the age of 11. There he had a series of stays in juvenile detention centres, was charged with murder and then manslaughter following an incident outside a nightclub and was acquitted. The fighter was then clinically dead for almost one minute following another altercation during which he was stabbed but recovered only to be seriously injured in a car crash.

Despite all that this was a bout he was almost certain to win but when he was floored in the fifth round by a left from McDonagh, he stood up and turned his back. McDonagh continued to attack and landed half a dozen punches as Gomez walked to his corner and slid under the ropes.

At that point he did look dazed but no one was sure whether he had given up the fight or was seriously in trouble from the first McDonagh left hand. He left the arena, to the annoyance of Irish middleweight champion Jim Rock, who suggested as he was leaving he should stay for the presentation. Gomez ignored the request and failed to show up for the post-match press conference.

"Look at my face," said an angry McDonagh afterwards. "Do I look like I've been in a fixed fight? Do you think I like looking like this? I've heard the allegations but I watched it on TV. That was a perfect punch. I broke his heart. Why did they give odds of 125 to 1 for me to knock him out? That's stupid odds."

Geller was also out of sorts as his student, McDonagh, was forced to answer betting questions rather than explain how he overcame such frightening odds to beat the widely feared Gomez.

"I'm very upset and angry that someone let out a rumour that would tarnish this very positive atmosphere," said a disconsolate Geller.

The headline act involving super bantamweight Dunne and former European champion Wilders finished with the Dubliner stopping the 31-year-old in the sixth round for his 19th straight professional win.

Dunne will fight in Europe or the US in April with the hope of a European title fight later in the year against Mike Hunter. Dunne floored the experienced, although out-of-condition Wilders with a trademark body punch before referee David Irving stepped in to stop Wilders receiving further punishment.