Michael Conlan has survived a third round knockdown to be crowned Ireland’s first male World Boxing Champion.
The Belfast boxer beat Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan in the 56kg bantamweight final in Doha to take the crown, after he won the bout on points in a 3-0 unanimous decision.
Two judges scored the first round in favour of Conlan, while one scored in favour of Akhmadaliev. All three scored the second round in his favour.
Conlan won 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.
Conlan joins Katie Taylor as the only Irish fighters to win AIBA world titles, with Taylor due to go for her sixth in Kazakhstan early next year.
And they could be joined on Thursday by another Irish winner, with Joe Ward set to face classy Cuban Julio La Cruz in the light-heavyweight final.
“I’m a world champion so there’s not much else you can say,” said Conlan after the win.
“The Irish crowd, I have never seen anything like in my life. I don’t even have this support at home, I’m completely over the moon.”
However there was disappointment for Michael O’Reilly earlier.
The middleweight lost to Egypt’s Hosam Abdin in a box-off for next year’s Olympic Games.
O’Reilly was on the wrong side of some questionable scoring in the first two rounds of his bout.