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Referee Victor Loughlin stops the fight after Eric Donovan is struck by Robeisy Ramirez (not pictured). Alamy Stock Photo
Disappointment

Ireland's Eric Donovan suffers defeat against two-time Olympic gold medalist

Earlier on the card, Limerick’s Paddy Donovan, trained by former middleweight world champion Andy Lee, improved his record to 8-0

THERE WAS disappointment for Ireland’s Eric Donovan in Glasgow this evening, as he was beaten by two-time Olympic gold medallist Robeisy Ramirez.

The Kildare fighter was a rank outsider going up against the highly-rated Cuban.

The bout was stopped one minute and 40 seconds into the third round after a left hook had Donovan reeling.

The referee consequently called a halt to the fight, which had already seen the Irishman knocked down in the first round.

Donovan can have few complaints as he struggled to match his opponent’s class and ultimately suffered the second defeat of his professional career.

Earlier on the card, Limerick’s Paddy Donovan, trained by former middleweight world champion Andy Lee, improved his record to 8-0 (6KOs).

Miroslav Serban, a tough Czech circuit fighter with a 13-8 (7KOs) CV, proved a difficult lock to unpick but Donovan was admirably composed throughout, patiently going about his business without any conspicuous angst.

Top Rank prospect Donovan, 23, bossed five and a bit valuable rounds against a tricky customer en route to the referee’s intervention, with Kevin McIntyre’s concern over the blood pouring from Serban’s left ear prompting him to stop the contest.

Serban scarcely protested, his face reddened and cut in places. For Donovan and Lee, meanwhile, the fight could scarcely have better gone to plan.

The action in Glasgow opened with an Irish tinge as Paddy Donovan’s former amateur rival Kieran Molloy of Galway made a successful professional debut.

Oughterard man Molloy, a three-time Irish Elite champion (indeed, he beat Donovan in the 2019 69kg final) applied relentless pressure from first bell, peppering light-middleweight opponent Damian Esquisabel to body and head.

In the second, with Molloy teeing off at will, referee Kevin McIntyre stepped in — much to the disgust of Spaniard Esquisabel (previously 4-7), who protested that he wasn’t hurt. The bout, however, was always only going one way as the 23-year-old Molloy got off the mark as a pro.

In the very next bout, it was the turn of Lisburn’s Tokyo Olympian Kurt Walker. The featherweight, who sensationally shocked Uzbek top seed Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov at last summer’s Games before missing out on a medal by the narrowest of margins, made even lighter work of his own maiden opponent in the paid ranks.

Walker, 26, was landing at will on the previously 1-2 Czech Jaroslav Hriadel before he dropped him with a vicious left hook to the body. Though Hriadel rose at the count of nine, man in the middle Darren Maxwell took one look at the picture of agony in front of him and called a halt to the fight after just over two minutes.

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