BOXING:FOR MUCH of his early professional career James Moore fought in the shadow of his erstwhile stablemate John Duddy, but given his opportunity in the spotlight as the St Patrick's weekend headliner on Saturday night, the Arklow middleweight made the most of it, capturing a well-deserved unanimous decision over Colombian veteran JC Candelo atop Celtic Ropes' "Fistful of Shamrocks" card at the Madison Square Garden Theatre.

Moore, now 15-0 as a professional, was able to build up a big early lead by taking his two-fisted attack straight to Candelo, which was fortunate, because the South American eventually caught his second wind, and so dominated the final round that it was all the Irishman could do to remain on his feet over the last three minutes.

"I knew he would be a big challenge," said Moore.

"That's why I wanted to fight him. I didn't want to fight a guy I knew I could easily beat."

Although Candelo's record fell to 27-10-4 with the loss, the 34-year-old has proven a durable opponent, having gone the distance with the likes of Verno Phillips, Teddy Reid, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Winky Wright, and the victory easily rates as Moore's most impressive performance to date.

"He's a tough guy and a crafty veteran, but I expected he'd give me the earlier rounds and save himself for later," said Moore.

"He's very good at not expending excess energy.

"He made me dig deep every round, but that's what I was hoping for."

All three judges had Moore in front after 10 rounds, as Bob Gilson scored it 97-92, Julie Lederman 97-93, and Tony Paolillo 95-94. Our unofficial scorecard had Moore ahead, 96-94.

"Fighting veterans like (Candelo) is a great learning curve," said Moore, who in what appeared to be a backhand reference to his old friend Duddy added, "There won't be any more easy fights for me."

Portmarnock light welterweight Oisín Fagan enjoyed an impressive if decidedly brief Big Apple debut. Fagan turned his Missouri opponent Brian (The Lion) Carden into a punching bag, belting him all about the ring for the bit more than a round their bout lasted.

A non-stop action fighter, Fagan raced out of his corner and smacked Carden with a right to the belly, and that was only a taste of things to come.

Before the opening round was out, The Lion was already cringing, turning his body away from Fagan's onslaught even before the punches landed. When the Irishman opened the ensuing round with another hard left, followed by a left-right combination, referee Pat Sullivan had seen enough and waved the bout to a halt just 16 seconds into the second.

"I don't think (Carden) wanted any more, said Fagan, an Oklahoma City schoolteacher in his day job.

"But I was actually a bit disappointed, because I wanted to put on a show for the New York fans and show them what I could do."

Fagan improved to 21-5 with the win, while Carden dropped to 6-5.

The third Irish-born fighter on the card, 22-year-old Philadelphia- based Galwegian Simon O'Donnell (5-1), scored a second-round knockout of Ohio middleweight Chris (Freight Train) Overby, now 8-9.

O'Donnell simply overwhelmed his journeyman foe, putting him down for good with a left hook and a short right to the body, and Mike Ortega counted him out at 1:33 of the round.

In contrast to the all-Hibernian atmosphere that has characterised the Garden's St Patrick's shows in recent years, Saturday's bill was advertised as a "multi-ethnic" card, and the 10-bout line-up included boxers from the US, Ireland, Colombia, Poland, Mexico, South Korea, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

The chief supporting bout saw Polish middleweight Pawel Wolak win his 20th without a loss when he knocked out Louisiana veteran DuPre Strickland (18-3-1), who was counted out after the bell had ended the second.

(In their fight at New York's Beacon Theatre last year, Strickland had lasted the 10-round distance in losing to Duddy).