Dunne stayed on course for a European title shot

The win boosts Dunne's hopes of taking on European super bantamweight champion Michael Hunter later this year.

Martinez, with only one defeat in 18 previous bouts, held his own against Dunne in the early rounds.

However, Dunne upped the pace in a big way in the eighth and Martinez's camp decided to throw in the towel.

Twenty-six year-old Dunne said Martinez had been a "tough, tough fighter".

"The punches I was throwing were ones that would usually knock an opponent out but he took them well and came back at me. He deserves credit for that."

Overall, the remainder of the year looks exciting for Dunne as his wife Pamela is due to give birth to the couple's first child later this month.

Also on Saturday's bill at the National Stadium, Jim Rock claimed the vacant Irish middleweight title with a seventh-round stoppage of Slough-based Kevin Phelan.

Arklow light middleweight James Moore stopped his French opponent Salaheddine Sarhani in the fourth round to chalk up his seventh pro success.

Cavan lightweight Andrew Murray also maintained his unbeateh record by stopping Frenchman Tony Jourda in the third round of their bout.

Dubliner Paul Griffin out-pointed Bulgarian Wladimir Borov in a featherweight contest while US-based Irishman Oisin Fagan beat Jeff Thomas to win vacant Irish light welterweight title.