BOXING: FORMER EUROPEAN super bantamweight champion Bernard Dunne could be out of action for up to three months after receiving seven stitches to a head wound following an accidental clash of heads against Cristian Faccio at the Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar on Saturday night.

Dunne was coasting to a points win over the Uruguayan until the clash left blood gushing from his forehead, and the fight was stopped on a technical decision in Dunne's favour between the seventh and eight rounds.

Referee Emile Tiedt handed the Dubliner a 70-65 points verdict after the bout was prematurely halted, a scorecard on which Dunne had won five and drawn two frames of the scheduled 10-rounder up to that point.

Dunne was clearly frustrated at the decision to stop the fight - but his manager and promoter, Brian Peters, said immediately after the bout, "A win, was a win", and that they would be targeting a world title shot in the New Year.

However, Peters couldn't resist a dig at European super bantamweight champion Rendall Munroe. The English man is due to hold a press conference in Dublin today to announce details of his title defence against Italian Fabrizio Trotta in Dublin on December 18th.

Peters believes the only man Munroe should be putting his title on the line against in Dublin is Dunne. "We plan to challenge for a world title in the New Year and Saturday's win should ensure Bernard cracks the top-10 in the rankings," he said, "but we haven't ruled out Europe. I am prepared to put £60,000 (€70,300) on the table for Rendall Munroe to put his European super bantamweight title on the line against Bernard in Dublin.

"Rendall is coming to Dublin to fight an Italian taxi driver when we all know there is only one man in Dublin he should be fighting, and that's Bernard Dunne."

Meanwhile, Faccio, ranked 11th by the WBC, arrived in Mayo with a reputation as a heavy hitter but never managed to get inside Dunne's left jab to cause any meaningful damage.

Standing at just over 5ft 4in, the South American was giving away almost three inches in height and another few inches in reach, and needed to engage the Dubliner in close-range combat.

However, Dunne expertly worked behind his left jab in the earlier frames, and did step inside with good effect in the second to rock Faccio three times with rights and lefts.

Faccio was continuously frustrated in the fourth and fifth as Dunne continued to use his jab as the platform to open up a clear points lead.

The Uruguayan did manage to put in a decent finish to the sixth, but the sickening clash of heads left the blood streaming down Dunne's forehead in the seventh and the fight was stopped after the bell for the end of the frame.

Local favourite Henry "Western Warrior" Coyle claimed his ninth win after out-pointing gutsy Latvian Serjejs Savrinovics at light middleweight on the main support bout of the evening.