Arrogant? You bet. With good reason? Saturday will tell. Problem is, ever since Bernard Dunne came home from America there's been a feeling he's been padding his record. Too often hungry fighters have shown up at the National Stadium looking like they were genuinely fighting for a sandwich. Now, at 21-0, he, at last, leaves the ground floor. He squares up to an opponent who's been British, Commonwealth and European champion before.

Mention Esham Pickering and Dunne's character changes. Creases appear.

He's ducking and weaving but something has connected and he's suddenly cut. This is as close as you get to worry with the Neilstown native.

"It's all systems go. I'm ready for it. I'm in great shape. You can see that with your own eyes. Esham is world class and he's proven that. He's one of the best in the business. But I ain't too bad myself and I'm ready for this level. I've been prepared since I turned pro. I've been getting in the ring since I was five and I'm not going to start worrying now. Boxing comes natural at this stage. It's second nature. I'll bring big time boxing back here to Ireland."

Esham said he's the harder puncher? "Let's see when we hit each other. I'm the bigger. Physically there's no comparison. When it comes to strength there's no comparison. I blew Noel Wilders away in six and beat him up.

He couldn't manage that. You want to draw comparisons in power? I've thought this fight through in my mind a thousand times and you know what, every time I win.

I'm prepared to go the distance but people who know me know I'm always looking for the quick exit and we'll see how he reacts when he's in there with me, when I'm hitting him. . . I've a 17-weekold child at home. I'd rather be sitting there with her. And me and my wife have just moved into a house in Palmerstown. It's tough on her too. I know Esham is the reason I'm away from my family and why it's tough on them. It makes me focus and you know you are doing it for a reason and a purpose and somebody has got to pay for it."

It's a mentality he picked up in Los Angeles. There Johnny Tapia, the Mexican former world champion who calls himself 'Ma Vida Loca', would act like Dunne's best friend one minute before walking away like a rabid enemy. From the snippets of conversation, Dunne pieced together the story. Tapia's father left when he was a child. At age eight, he was there with his mother when she was kidnapped. Days later they found her body on the side of a road. She'd been gang-raped and stabbed to death with a scissors. He's a drug addict. Many of his family are too. Hell, he couldn't manage suicide when he tried it. Somebody had to pay for it.

"He was a strange character but what do you expect?

He told me before that he was in a bus crash in the desert. Everyone was killed and he was just sitting there with all these bodies for hours, in the middle of nowhere. But you can only learn from people like that and America did an awful lot for me. But I had to decide whether I was going to stay there and settle or come home. I got criticised by a lot of people for coming home but I don't care because this is me. I didn't go out there to be the next Colin Farrell and see Sunset Boulevard. I went out there to make it in boxing.

But it was boring. Once you leave the gym, what do you do? The time difference means people are in bed back home.

"And besides, my record shows it hasn't hurt my boxing. I'm still undefeated. I'm getting a European title shot.

It's not like I'm in a comfort zone. I'm taking steps and I'm always learning. For this fight we've left the National Stadium, stepped into the unknown and people have responded and they obviously want to see me box because it's [The Point Depot] sold out. Seven thousand tickets gone."

But would you be a better fighter had you stayed in America?

"I don't think so. I always knew I'd have to go there and serve my time and what happens outside the ring, whether I'm bored or not, that doesn't affect my boxing.

But at the same time there's only so much you can do when you are by yourself and everything is focussed on boxing. I was there to get into a gym and make myself a better fighter. I did that and I was always a home bird anyway and at least here they can understand what I'm saying. Seriously. But look, I got to travel as an amateur and was very fortunate but no matter how much I enjoyed a place, I always enjoyed getting home and being in Neilstown. And it's not like I can't get away and focus. I'm here amn't I?"

Here is Belfast. Down a lane, off a street, off a road, the Holy Trinity Boxing club is nestled in an estate you can only imagine wasn't so pleasant 20 years ago. But it's where Dunne has done his fight preparation since returning from LA two years ago. In the ring, Brian Magee is swinging his way back.

Dunne's trainer Harry Hawkins chats to a sparring partner. More meat for the animal. And in the corner Brian Peters, the Dunshaughlin publican who has managed and promoted Dunne for much of his professional career, is talking up his champion. "He's been offered world title shots but we've said no. We're taking this at a pace that's right for Bernard. People don't understand that boxing is as much a business as a sport. It's showbusiness. I have to look after Bernard, make sure he has a house and can support his family and has money in the bank before we go looking for world titles. There has to be a stage where risk meets reward and all going well, that day will come and we'll have an Irish world champion again. The prospect clearly excites people and you can tell that from the support we've been getting."

Now ranked at 12 by the WBO and IBF and nine by the WBA, it hasn't all gone smoothly for Dunne. There were mandatory visa problems across the Atlantic.

There were brief but unfounded worries over a brain scan. The firm promoting him, America Presents, went bankrupt.

"It's all worked out though, " interrupts Dunne.

"I'm not one to worry. Like before a fight I'd often be seen playing cards. I'd nearly be the one calming my dad and Brian down. They'd be shittin' bricks. But I don't waste energy over things like nerves because everything falls into place. Like when America Presents went, that's when Sugar Ray Leonard came in. One thing leads to another. I nearly ended up on that reality TV show they were having, The Contender.

"They had producers come to the gym in LA and watch me box and spar and they were all impressed. But as I said, I didn't go over there to become part of some reality TV show. I went there to box and I was always focussed on that and that's why I turned it down. I don't want to waste time getting to where I want to be."

The same reason convinced him to call time on his amateur career. Having missed out on the Sydney Olympics, he was brought along as a reserve. Tipped as a medal hope for Athens, Dunne was impatient and turned professional in 2001. "I didn't want to be there in 2004 either, walking away from the Olympics wondering what would have happened if I'd made my move earlier. People criticised me then as well. But we've always done our own thing and we're showing that we've made the right moves."

It's not long before Hawkins pulls him away from the interviews and into the ring. Some showboating for the cameras and he's into the real stuff. It's only arrogance if you lose.

emackenna@tribune. ie EUROPEAN SUPERBANTAMWEIGHT TITLE BERNARD DUNNE v ESHAM PICKERING Saturday, The Point Depot, 10.30 Live, RTE Two, 10.00