AS THE final touches were being put to tomorrow night's boxing extravaganza at The Point, Michael Carruth, Ireland's only Olympic boxing champion to date, was keeping his head down.

Although press conferences were held every day this week, Carruth preferred to complete his preparations for his bout with the American, Mark Brannon, in Drogheda far away from the hype which extended from Jurys Hotel to St Saviour's gym, to Chatham Street and to the Shelbourne Park dog track.

Carruth was disappointed that his scheduled bout against the British welterweight champion James Lueshing fell through when things was ordered to defend his British title rather than take on Carruth.

The Dubliner has had only one failure in his 13 professional fights so far. That was a loss on points over six rounds against Gordon Blair in Glasgow in January, 1995.

Carruth put the record straight when he forced Blair to retire in the fourth round of their clash in Millstreet just over a year later and then went on to stop Chris Saunders in June of 1996 in Mansfield in an eliminator for the International Boxing Federation Intercontinental title.

On that occasion Carruth was on the canvas early in the bout but came back strongly to stop Saunders in the 10th round.

Carruth now has his eye on a title of some sort in order to boost his chances of a challenge for a world title, and he is leaving nothing to chance as he takes on Brannon, who is not well known on this side of the Atlantic.

Brannon is a very experienced campaigner. With more than 50 professional bouts to his credit he has been in several wars", and Carruth realises that he has to be clear headed about this challenge to his chances of a world title.

Brannon, at 30, is only one year older than Carruth. He comes from Indianapolis and is reputed to be a two fisted, experienced journeyman who can take and deliver a punch.

The World Boxing Association's cruiserweight title is also up for grabs at The Point on Saturday night when Nate Miller from Philadelphia, the reigning champion, takes on James Heath from North Carolina.

Miller has had 32 professional fights, winning 24 of them by knock out. Heath, by comparison, is inexperienced, although nine contests do not appear on his official record because until recently North Carolina did not have a boxing commission.

Officially, Heath has had eight fights with six knock outs to his credit.

A limited number of tickets for tomorrow night's bill are still available from the box office at The Point and from all HMV outlets.