Damien McKenna, the gifted Irish bantamweight champion, was the first of the Irish team to reach the quarter-finals at the world championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. To do so, he had to produce the fight of his life before his hand was raised a 15-14 winner over Abdusalom Khasanov of Tadjikistan.

The courageous Drogheda man did not manage to get in front until midway through the third round having trailed 2-6 after the first. A public warning for holding issued to Khasanov followed up by left jabs on the double from McKenna proved the ultimate turning point for an 11-9 lead.

A torrid final round had to be stopped twice for a doctor's inspection of a cut under McKenna's left eye.

Later, heavyweight Eanna Falvey was outclassed and stopped early in the second round by imposing Russian Alexander Tovetkine in what proved a mismatch.

Falvey, a doctor, and a late call-up for champion John Kinsella, took heavy punishment to the head even before he took a standing count in the opening round. The Russian then powered his way to open up a 15 points gap early in the second round and the contest was mercifully stopped.

There was better fortune for middleweight Ken Egan (Dublin), who used his advantage in height and reach to account for squat Dane Youssef Elawan 17-5. Earlier in the evening, the ability to deal with adversity stood Meath southpaw John Paul Campbell in good stead when his resilience and ring craft finally helped despatch plucky Estonian Roman Pavlenkov 10-7 in the 57 kg division.

Campbell (21), with an economical and studied style, was building a second round lead when forced to take a standing eight count after walking into a solid left hook. Leading 7-6 going into the final round, the fiery Irishman's will to win and ability to pick his punches, earned him a 4-1 last round margin. Things went seriously wrong for Corkman Michael Roche and Antrim's Noel Monteith in subsequent action. Light middleweight Roche was on the wrong end of a 20-4 hammering by Georgian Anatoli Kavtaradze. Monteith, the national lightweight champion, went two points up in the first round, but the southpaw talents of his Ukrainian opponent, Volodymyr Klesnyk, looked ominous from the start. The Ukrainian caught him with lefts on the way in and with Monteith forced to take two standing counts in the third round, his opponent's versatility off either foot was obvious. The Irishman, down 511, went into the final round on a wing and a prayer and finished up a 12-6 loser.