TWO OF IRISH boxing’s hottest welterweight prospects look to be on a collision course following a knockout-filled night in Belfast.
Local power-puncher Lewis Crocker (19-0, 11KOs) and Limerick stylist Paddy Donovan (13-0, 10KOs) both claimed impressive stoppage wins on the Matchroom-Conlan Boxing show at the famous Ulster Hall and may now find themselves across from each other the next time they step into the ring.
Crocker flattened Mexican Jose Felix Jr (40-7-1, 31KOs) in the fifth round of the headline bout while Donovan had to come through his first real adversity in the pros before taking out Argentine Williams Herrera (15-3, 6KOs) in the seventh.
There are calls from some to let the prospective bout ‘build’ but the Matchroom media machine was at work throughout fight week. Chairman Eddie Hearn (who was not in attendance tonight due to a scheduling clash with the Jaime Mungia v John Ryder fight in Arizona) and CEO Frank Smith both spoke openly of their desire to make the all-Irish match-up for as early as this Summer.
Topping the bill tonight following his star-making dominance of Tyrone McKenna in the so-called ‘Battle of Belfast’ just eight weeks ago, the South Belfast puncher had revelled in the spotlight and cut a relaxed figure throughout fight-week.
Now 27, ‘The Croc’ has been seen as one of Irish boxing’s premier prospects ever since turning pro in his teens. His progression, however, had been stop-start but he looks to have found the ideal set-up in Glasgow with veteran coach Billy Nelson and was imperious again here against an opponent familiar to Irish fight fans.
Felix had caused a massive shock in Dublin last May – the biggest shock in World boxing in 2023 according to bookmakers’ odds – when he brutally stopped Kildare lightweight Gary Cully in the third round of the Katie Taylor v Chantelle Cameron chief support bout. A result that put Cully’s Dublin headliner plans on ice, it also served to reinvigorate the Sinaloan’s career.
A former prospect with US giant Top Rank, Felix had gradually slipped into the opposition corner and had been decisively beaten by the aforementioned McKenna and Spanish star Sandor Martin in 2021 and 2022 respectively before hitting the jackpot in Dublin. However, rather than securing a big fight at his natural weight, Felix elected to jump two classes to take on Crocker here with the inevitable consequences.
Indeed, whether Crocker will be campaigning in the welterweight division for much longer is unclear. Known for being ‘big at the weight’, the Belfast bruiser weighed in at 150lbs – three pounds above the limit – under instruction from the British Boxing Board of Control who ruled that an attempt to boil down to 147lbs was unsafe after Crocker was deemed too heavy at the midweek check-weight.
The size disparity was apparent from the opening bell as Crocker stalked the furiously-circling Mexican. Peppering the Sandy Row slugger as he marched in, the experienced Felix took the opening rounds on workrate but Crocker appeared to be merely biding his time and he made his first real breakthrough in the third.
With Felix’s feet slowing and the distance closing, Crocker scored well with a flurry against the ropes that buzzed his opponent only for a cynical low blow to take the wind out of the Belfast boxer’s sails. A second low blow saw Felix deducted a point as the atmosphere in the concert venue heated up.
A vicious Crocker came out firing in the fourth and quickly sent Felix down painfully to the canvas with a left hook to the body. Somehow, the visitor went from writhing on the canvas to up at the count of nine-and-three-quarters and even more unbelievable was the fact Felix managed to survive the round, coming through a number of hairy moments when pinned against the ropes but the writing was on the wall
Sporting Spider-Man villain Venom on his shorts, the grinning Ulsterman was stalking Felix with evil intent as he looked to bring about a finish and it came in the fifth as his opponent circled into a huge left hook that put him down, tangled in the ropes, and out.
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An hour or so beforehand, Donovan had held up his end of the bargain but it was far from plain sailing.
The spiteful southpaw, returning to the venue of his debut in October 2019, was given a gut-check by Argentine brawler Herrera.
Highly thought of by boxing ‘insiders’, Donovan gained himself a big fan in Hearn following his demolition of English champion Danny Ball on the Chantelle Cameron v Katie Taylor rematch undercard in Dublin. Faced with, on paper, an ‘easier’ fight tonight, 25-year-old Donovan was given a hard night’s work but his favoured backhand left to the body won the day once again.
In his only previous venture outside of Argentina, Herrera had lost a landslide points decision to Canadian Josh Wagner but did not come to the Titanic City to lie down. Initially defensive to the extreme and seeking to present the smallest target possible, the Cordoba scrapper sprung into life in the fifth.
Switching from survival mode to attack, Herrera began to rough up Donovan in earnest. While little of the South American’s work landed clean, one particularly nice uppercut aside, the physicality did appear to be having an effect on Donovan who was bloodied from the nose in round six but fought back with fluid combinations as he was put to the test..
Sensing an opportunity, Herrera upped the ante in the seventh but this would be his undoing as Donovan landed a perfect left hand to the body that sent the visitor down. Herrera rose, just, but was sent down again to the body before being stopped in the corner – much to the displeasure of his corner, one of whom needed to be restrained as he attempted to accost referee Bob Williams.
With the WBA Continental rankings belt won versus Ball successfully defended for the first time, Donovan should see his #13 placing with the body improve further but the boxes ticked inside the ring will be of more importance to coach Andy Lee.
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Chief support on the night, British cruiserweight Cheavon Clarke (8-0, 7KOs) was too fresh for local favourite Tommy McCarthy (20-6, 10KOs). The Lenadoon fighter, a former Elite amateur and a European champion in the pros, was drinking in the last chance saloon having been stopped in seven rounds by champion Michal Cieslak in Poland last November as he attempted to win the continental crown for the second time.
Having changed up his training team and brought in close friend and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Paddy Gallagher, there had been some hope of a last hurrah for McCarthy but he was cut through by the rising Clarke. While only a month younger than 33-year-old McCarthy, the explosive ‘C4′ would appear to be on the opposite end of the career spectrum. A Tokyo Olympian, Clarke has risen quickly through the pros and negotiated this latest step-up violently, powering through McCarthy inside four.
There was also a short-notice outing for Tokyo Olympian Kurt Walker who scored a hard-fought win over dangerous Nicaraguan Darwing Martinez across six rounds to hit the 10-0 milestone. A European champion in the amateurs, the 28-year-old Lisburn featherweight will be looking to take the stabilisers off in 2024 and called for a fight Matchroom starlet Hopey Price, among others, during fight week.
Finally, there were easy wins on the card for two young English prospects, Giorgio Visioli and Leli Buttigieg, versus journeymen Samuel Pikire and Artjom Spatar respectively, while Wolverhampton welterweight Conah Walker will be hoping to get in the mix with Crocker and Donovan following his third-round stoppage of Welsh champion Lloyd Germain.