It was December 2001 when Bernard Dunne first climbed into a ring in California, and to describe him as promising was being pessimistic. The kid from Neilstown had it all and was set to follow in the footsteps of giants. In his childhood, Peter Perry would throw anyone he didn't want hanging around his CIE Boxing Club into the ring with Dunne because he knew they'd never come back again. At 15 he had stepped onto the canvas with world champion McCullough and acted as a sparring partner for his hero. By 21, he'd gone to Los Angeles by himself, strolled into Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, saw Manny Pacquiao, James Toney and Sugar Shane Mosley strutting their stuff and joined in. This was his world and by the time he left America three years later, he was heading for the top of the bantamweight division.

Had he stayed, who knows where he would be right now. Having Roach to hone and mould his unlimited talent could only have meant great things, after all Roach was voted Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Keeping company with pound-for-pound gods could have taken Dunne to a new level as well.

But he chose to return and next Saturday, 21 years to the day after McGuigan's famous fight with Cruz, and five-anda-half years into his professional career, he takes on Reidar Walstad.

Known as the Viking, the Norwegian is ranked behind Kiko Martinez, Esham Pickering and Salem Bouaita in the European rankings. Walstad works part-time in a mental hospital and according to his official website, his reason for getting into pro boxing was an attempt to avoid the politics of the amateur game. There's clearly no denying Dunne's career is stagnating and, to me, his skills are becoming visibly more blunt with each fight.

The problem is Dunne has bought into the hype created by his promoter Brian Peters. Selling out the Point Depot is no mean achievement, especially for such poor entertainment and to have RTE on board and pulling in huge ratings for each fight night is remarkable and testament to Peters' skills. He's somehow convinced a large part of the Irish public that each of these fights is a step closer to a world title shot. He may well have convinced Dunne as well despite the fact he no longer registers on the minds of any of the divisions' champions, and won't until he steps up and fights an opponent of great quality. But after years of mediocrity back home, it is questionable if he'll be able to make the step up once more.

Take his trainer in Belfast, Harry Hawkins. A genuine man and a good amateur coach but considering where Dunne has been and who he's been under, it's hard to understand the relationship. And while Peters always insists that boxing is now a business and Dunne must become financially secure before going near a highlyranked boxer, security is not why Dunne got into the game. He went professional because he wanted to be the best but he's getting nowhere near his goal. Too many people around the fighter seem to be thinking of security instead of opportunity.

In an interview last year Dunne went into this very confession box and admitted, "I don't want to waste time getting to where I want to be".

A clever guy, he must have felt a bit silly when only moments later an overweight piece of meat was lead into the Holy Trinity Boxing Club in Belfast to spar him ahead of his European title fight against Esham Pickering. He knew he was wasting his time then and sadly, when he knocks out another mismatch on Saturday before telling the crowd that it is all hunky dorey in homage to his sponsors, the clock will still be ticking.

If Dunne is to make it, he needs to break out of his comfort zone.