From the crowd and the atmosphere in The Point to the fight itself and ultimately the result . . .

none of it could have gone any better. And the whole lot is justification for a lot of sacrifices made by a lot of people.

This wasn't just six weeks training in the making; this is years of hard work and having the European title is proof that it has all been worthwhile. A lot of fighters go a lifetime without any reward so to be in this position as a champion and being in a position to challenge for a world title, I'm very honoured.

The lead-up to the fight was no different from any other I've been involved in. I keep telling people how relaxed I am leading up to a bout and they don't believe me, but it's true. I go about my business like I would any other day. Even at 10 o'clock on Saturday night I was in my dressing room playing my Playstation. I was getting an awful beating in that Tiger Woods game to be fair, but I think that's enough proof that I don't get worked up or nervous about any fight. It's a waste of energy; you have to keep your emotions under control until you are walking into the ring. If anything I look forward to getting in there and a crowd that size makes it an even better feeling. I've waited and worked for these things all my life and I'm not going to lose out on that feeling because I'm nervous.

The fight itself went exactly to plan. Every tactic we had put in place beforehand worked superbly. And while Esham (Pickering)'s nose being opened up so badly early on in the fight didn't affect the judges result, it certainly had a psychological affect. I realised early, because of that, my punches were landing, and they were landing hard. But as well as that, we always seemed to be one step ahead. Every time his corner tried to change the way they were going about the fight, we were ready. He went to southpaw for a while and that didn't work. He tried to change the tempo and that didn't work. There was nothing he could do and that showed on the judges' scorecards and in the perception just about everybody had of the fight.

The one criticism I have heard is that I struggled a bit with the pace and I found the 12 rounds a little tough going but I really don't see how that's the case. I've watched the video so many times at this stage and as far as I'm concerned the only round he won easily was the eighth and by that stage I had eased up on the pace a little, in both seven and eight.

But after that I picked things up again. I was the better in the ninth and 10th and by the 12th I was dancing around the ring. That's not the sign of a tired fighter or a fighter who can't go 12.

There's absolutely no problem with fitness and I feel like I could go 12 rounds with anyone.

Where to next, we'll see over Christmas. We'll all sit down and have a talk about whether we want to defend the belt for a few fights or if we want to go after a worldtitle shot straight away.

As regards going straight for the top, there was a significant result on Friday last when Michael Hunter was beaten by Steve Molitor in five. The result wasn't all that much of a shock, but the fashion of Molitor's win was.

Hunter effectively quit. This is a guy who is renowned for being battle-hardened and he just gave up really. That's what ended it, he just had enough. There's now talk of Hunter moving weights but the only thing that's been on my mind was my own fight.

Now that's won, it's opened up some really good options for us and no matter what we choose, the crowds and support we are getting in Dublin mean we can bring any fighter over here. The money we can generate means that we'll want to stay fighting here because although guys like Molitor are the world champions, we're the ones who can generate the interest and support and if there was a world title fight there's no doubt we'd want to bring it over here rather than go travelling.

But that's all in due course because, to be honest, after the week we've had, we could do with a little bit of a rest before we go any further.

Bernard Dunne is European super-bantamweight champion

In conversation with Ewan MacKenna