Finished 'Bizness'

'Dudey's' second successive defence of his title in Letterkenny proved more than comfortable and culminated in a seventh-round stoppage. Always in control, McCloskey's performance as promised, eclipsed his first defence against Italian Guiseppe Lauri where he got involved in a toe-to-toe slug out, neither suited to his style or to highlighting his at times silken brand of pugilism.

Although his 'battle' with Lauri ended with McCloskey landing a thunderous 11th round punch, this time around Dudey's more familiar style was to the fore.

Morrison looked fit and strong, but was in the end no match for the Dungiven man. Morrison sank to one knee as early as the fifth round having been caught flush on the temple by McCloskey. The challenger was on the deck again in the seventh but the blow was not ruled to be a punch-however the contest lasted only another minute.

Dudey forced his opponent back onto the ropes and landed a flurry of punches. No 'killer' blow was apparent but the hapless Scot went to the canvass and the fight was stopped.

Victory secured, thoughts immediately moved to the Dungiven man's next move. Speaking about what comes next, McCloskey said: "What's next after becoming European champion? it's obviously the world.

"Amir Khan is one of the big names out there-he's english, I'm Irish, it'd be a great fight for this part of the world. Let's get it on."

Khan however will have to negotiate a tricky clash with Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas in December. Whilst the Bolton native would be the ideal fixture for McCloskey, there are other high class opponents like Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley, from whom to attempt to wrest a world title from.

The attempted pre-fight 'psyche-out' from Morrison's camp that McCloskey was effectively the challengers quality was answered both inside and outside the ring. As expected Morrison came forward but was met with highly effective counter punches.

"I'm a professional fighter and I would never overlook anybody in this game. One punch can end a fight and I have to train for every fight like it's a world title. We studied barry's DVD's and saw his strengths and weaknesses and I think I exploited those," said McCloskey.

McCloskey's determination and dedication to training and pursuit of the ultimate prize cannot be doubted and it would appear that these qualities will continue to be pushed as he moves forward.

"Physically and mentally I feel in the best shape of my life. I'm on a roll right now, I'm 22 and 0. I work really hard for this and I'm up and down the road from Belfast five days a week for training.

"I'd love to fight for a world title here, anywhere in the country would be a dream come true and it would be amazing, but if I have to go away I would do it because it's an opportunity you can't turn down."