By Cathal Dervan

Dunne retained his European super-bantamweight crown with an impressive third round stoppage of Kazakhstan’s Yersin Jailauov in front of a sell-out Point Theatre on Sunday night.

“I have heard talk of John crossing the Atlantic to fight in Ireland and I would encourage him to do so,” said Dunne. “I haven’t regretted coming home from America one bit and the crowd here tonight showed how strong the boxing revival in Ireland is right now.

“John has got a great atmosphere going at Madison Square Garden, but this has to be as good. There are some great middleweights in Ireland now who would love to fight him and I would definitely be interested in sharing a bill with John.”

Dunne kept his growing band of fans happy with a series of left that killed the Jailauov challenge after just one minute and 53 seconds of Sunday night’s title defense in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

“The atmosphere here just gets better and better. Even though it was a Sunday night they really came out to support me,” said Dunne after he stretched his 100% record to 23 straight wins.

“He was every bit as awkward as I expected but I was patient and eventually caught him with a good solid shot. Preparing for the fight and making the weight is the hard part but I just love it when I get in there, especially in front of that crowd.”

Dunne is scheduled to meet Spaniard Kiko Martinez in a mandatory defense of his crown, possibly on May 19 at the Point as he awaits a move up to the world level.

“I’d fight for the world title now and I believe I am ready for it now, but I have to do what my advisers tell me and be patient,” stressed the Dubliner.

Jim Rock also won at the Point on Sunday night, cruising to an impressive second-round victory over Hungarian Szabolcs Rimovsky, and then had a pop at Duddy.

“I was supposed to fight Duddy last year but his people messed me around and I won’t be messed around,” said Rock. “I don’t have time to mess around. We were supposed to fight in September, then it was August, then the contracts never arrived three weeks before the fight.

“I won’t be messed around like that. If Duddy wants to fight me they know where I am. I hold three Irish titles at the moment and that’s a record, but I’d like to improve on that again by winning a fourth at light heavy.

“There’s still all that talk about a fight with John Duddy and if that fight happens well and good but I don’t have time to wait for it anymore.”

George Returns

TRAINER Aidan O’Brien has confirmed that George Washington, winner of the 2000 Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last year, has returned to “pre-training,” having had fertility problems as a stallion.

“George is back with us,” said O’Brien. “He’s in an isolation yard and is doing light exercise. You could call it pre-training, and we’ll just have to wait and see how things go with him.

“He’s been entered for the Tattersalls Gold Cup on May 27, but it’s far too soon to be talking about where he might run and it’s quite possible the Tattersalls race could come too soon for him.”

Dricco Question

LEINSTER have refused to rule Brian O’Driscoll out of Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarterfinal away to Wasps as he battles the hamstring injury picked up during the second half of the Six Nations win over Italy.

Paul O’Connell will definitely miss Munster’s quarterfinal trip to Llanelli on Friday night, however, but Mick O’Driscoll has been named in the squad after his recent rib injury also picked up in Rome.

Sports Shorts

BASKETBALL: DART Killester are the 2007 mens SuperLeague Champions after beating Merry Monk Ballina 95-90 in the final at the UL Arena in Limerick while DCU Mercy won the Women’s SuperLeague Championship . . .

RUGBY: Trevor Brennan has appealed to the ERC over his lifetime ban from rugby after incidents in the Toulouse-Ulster Heineken Cup game . . .

RACING: Johnny Murtagh set down a marker for the new flat season with a stunning 879-1 treble on the opening day at the Curragh on Sunday . . .

RUGBY: Ireland’s summer tour to Argentina is in doubt as the IRFU await confirmation on venues for the two games in June . . .

RACING: Meath jockey Paul Carberry has been confirmed to ride favorite Dun Doire in the Grand National at Aintree next month.

GAA Shorts

DIRECTOR General Liam Mulvihill has played down reports that the Compromise Rules series against Australia could return next year after all the disciplinary problems in 2006 . . .

CARLOW fans are still reeling from the news that football boss Andy Shortall has quit as manager of their senior county team after failing to win a game in the league this year . . .

MIDFIELDER Ciaran Whelan expects to be fit for Dublin’s NFL visit to Mayo on Sunday after a leg injury kept him out of the victory over Fermanagh last Saturday night . . .

TYRONE are to keep the Dr. McKenna Cup after a successful appeal to the GAA over problems with the team sheet for their final win over Donegal . . .

CROSSMAGLEN Rangers look set to be without knee injury victim Tony Kernan for Sunday’s All-Ireland club football final replay against Dr. Crokes . . .

WEXFORD footballer Diarmuid Kinsella has quit the county squad as he prepares to emigrate to Hong Kong.