BELFAST, Northern Ireland – In one of the most staggering finales to a fight in a British ring, Paddy Donovan – having delivered the performance of his life – was disqualified while opponent Lewis Crocker was on the canvas, having been obliterated by a crushing right hook.

The shot had come fractionally after the bell to end the eighth round and marked a third infraction, and thus saw a heartbroken Donovan thrown out after he lost a point for use of his elbow in the sixth and for using the head earlier in Round 8.

Donovan had already dropped Crocker once in the eighth and was letting his hands go when, seemingly by a whisker, after the stroke of the bell, the last punch landed.

Referee Marcus McDonnell then disqualified Donovan, who, realizing the impact, wept on the floor and then into the arms of trainer Andy Lee. He was inconsolable.

Outside the ring, the touchpaper had been lit as warring factions came to blows in the crowds.

There was chaos and uncertainty at ringside, and minutes passed without an announcement.

Crocker was being given oxygen in his corner while on his stool, and a stretcher was being prepared in front of me.

Still Donovan wept, and his team, headed by Lee, tried to argue their man’s case.

Crocker was able to stand minutes later, and he was deep in conversation with manager Jamie Conlan while Lee removed Donovan’s gloves and held him aloft, only for his fighter to be greeted by another vivid section of boos.

By the time Donovan lowered the boom, Crocker’s left eye was swollen shut, and that is why he said he could not see the finishing shot.

“I heard the bell, I can’t see him, I dropped my hands, and that’s what caused the knockdown. … I can’t see from this eye. … I heard the bell, I dropped my hands, I couldn’t see from the head-butts previous. It was turning into a great fight. It was unfortunate the fight ended like that. ... It’s just a shame the way it happened.”

Donovan said he felt like he had won every round, and he had certainly never been better.

“He boxed unbelievably,” said Lee. "I’m so proud of him."

Donovan’s tears flowed freely. He was beyond upset, His world had crumbled. He thought he was moments from landing a shot at the IBF welterweight title, but it is now Crocker who holds that position courtesy of his DQ win.

“You never want a fight to end like that,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “Paddy was sensational. The shot was after the bell. … To be honest with you, I want to see it again. The reality is there’s going to be a lot of people wanting to see this fight again. We know what controversy does – it builds into massive fights. Honestly, as a promoter, I want to see the fight again and I want to see it play out.”

It was a wild and ultimately unruly night in Belfast at the SSE Arena, and owing to the fight’s controversial conclusion, warring factions of fans battled in the stands.

Of course, it had started with everyone in good spirits.

Crocker, introduced first, was greeted by an ovation that can simply be described as ear-splitting, while Donovan’s 1,000 or so fans could not be heard over the boos that greeted him. If he is to be the future of Irish boxing, it marked a dubious and reluctant start on this side of the border.

Donovan was clobbered by a tornado of boos and catcalls as he made his ring walk, but his choice of "Zombie" breaking into "Can’t Stop" did at least have some fans singing along.

Donovan was actually warned for punching behind the head in the very first round. 

“There’s only one Lewis Crocker,” sang his fans, possibly setting SSE decibel records.

The noise was so loud and so constant in the first round that you couldn’t hear the punches land, even though Donovan had some joy in close, pivoting off his front foot. Crocker timed him with a blow here and there.

In the second, Donovan was often moving the same way, so Crocker posed a threat with left hooks and uppercuts, and while Donovan threw fours and fives in fast-handed bursts, Crocker merely smiled and encouraged him to be more aggressive. 

But Donovan started to probe the body, too, and Crocker was not earning points for smiling at him.

Donovan landed a crisp left that caused the Crocker fans to collectively gasp in Round 3, but referee Marcus McDonnell warned Donovan not to get too close with his head. Crocker, by now, bled from the right eye, and there were signs that Crocker didn’t know what to do with the man in front of him. Donovan punched the air at the end of the session, a round he had won 10-9 but, in reality, by a significant wider moral margin.

Donovan was boxing at a high tempo, too. Punches poured from his gloves through the fourth, although McDonnell broke the action again to warn him about using his head, which earned Donovan more Belfast boos. Plenty ringside, however, felt Crocker was at fault for leaning in and bulling forward with his head.

Still, Donovan whipped in left hands to the body and head, and there were signs Crocker had been hurt downstairs when Donovan grinned at the knowledge that Crocker was having to brace himself to hold in any breath that was left in him.

Donovan was flying, and in the fifth a mouse formed below Crocker’s left eye. The Glasgow-based Belfastman forged forwards, a big left giving his fans a spot to cheer, but he ducked into a sharp left uppercut. Donovan, boxing in a matrix of sorts, was not slowing.

But the warning signs flashed in the sixth when Donovan was docked his first point.

Although Crocker was throwing plenty, he was finding Donovan a remarkably hard target. Occasionally, he caught the Limerick man on the end of something, but Donovan’s upper-body movement meant that the sting had often been taken out of it.

When Crocker complained about Donovan’s tactics and use of the elbow to push him away – dropping his hands twice to do so – referee McDonnell acted and took a point off Donovan. The crowd roared in support of the call, but business soon resumed with Donovan raking Crocker with right hands to the body and up top.

Some had predicted Crocker would come on strong in the fight’s second half, that Donovan’s fitness was questionable, but he was in a zone and Crocker had no answers. Even when McDonnell intervened again after a head clash and warned Donovan for it, the Limerick man’s concentration and ambition to do damage was not impeded.

Although Crocker, by the start of the eighth, showed no signs of capitulation, there was a resigned looked about his work in the eighth. After he again showed out for Donovan coming out headfirst, McDonnell took another point.

But Crocker’s left eye was clamming shut. After Donovan dropped him the first time, a wild spell of trading followed. With Donovan beginning to turn the screws and Crocker’s back to the ropes, the bell sounded and Donovan completed a combination fractionally after the bell.

Crocker plummeted to the floor, collapsed by a right hook, and there was no sign that he would be able to recover if he made it back to his feet. But it was on the canvas where he was when he realized he had won. Battered, bruised, dropped twice and cut, finishing the fight on the floor, and having possibly not even won a round, he had won his biggest fight.

Crocker is now 21-0 (11 KOs), and Donovan fell to 14-1 (11 KOs). But Donovan's career ceiling is now far higher than many thought – and far higher, one would have to say, than Crocker’s.

Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.