BELFAST – On Saturday night, with 20,000 fans screaming inside Windsor Park, many of them cheering for the man in the opposite corner, everything will be quiet to Paddy Donovan.
His eyes will narrow and fix on his opponent, Lewis Crocker, and his tight focus will block out the kind of volume that they’ll be able to hear in the next city.
“When you get in the ring, I believe everything goes silent, you rarely hear the crowd, I think,” said Donovan. “You’re so focused on your opponent, you’re not listening to anything that’s going on around you. That’s the way I feel. I don’t know if any other fighter is like that, but that’s the way I am. I’m very zoned in. The only thing I can really remember about the [first] fight [with Crocker], if I’m to be totally honest, is the walkout. I think that was the best part, just looking around, seeing all the fans going crazy, seeing beers going up into the sky and things like that. I love it. That’s why we asked for Windsor: We wanted a bigger stadium and we wanted to put on a better show, a bigger and better show, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
But Donovan was heartbroken in March, leaving the SSE Arena in floods of tears, having been disqualified in a fight he was handsomely winning.
He had been warned for infractions throughout, but when he nailed Crocker with a shot after the bell sounded to end the eighth round, the Limerick man was ejected and Crocker’s hand was raised.
Until then, Donovan had never boxed better.
“Looking back on the last fight, it was a game plan of me and [trainer] Andy [Lee] trying to execute the best that we could in the fight, and the fight was going exactly the way we wanted the fight to go,” Donovan recalled. “We know Lewis is a great fighter, we know what he’s good at and what he’s bad at, and we tried to take away the good things and force him into making mistakes, and I think we did that very, very well in the first seven to eight rounds. To look back on the fight now, I believe I’m a lot better now than I was in the previous fight. It’s the new things we’ve been working on, great sparring, and I’m just looking forward to this big massive fight here in Ireland.”
Donovan took some time out afterwards, his team appealed to the IBF for a rematch, and he allowed boxing politics to work their often-untidy magic.
Now he and Crocker will meet for the vacant IBF welterweight title on Saturday in the first all-Irish world title fight in history.
Donovan is confident. He is moving through fight week with a swagger. Crocker’s manager, Jamie Conlan, has likened Donovan to a movie villain, while Carl Frampton has said Donovan could get a modeling gig if he so desired. Donovan is oozing confidence, but he is, he says, not overconfident.
“Look, it’s not in my head to go in and blow Lewis Crocker out of the water,” he said. “I know Lewis is a good fighter, he’s a tough man, he’s a proud Belfast person, he’s [got a] good ego, he’s on home ground. So I don’t expect to go in and walk all over Lewis. World titles are earned, they are not given, so I believe the fight needs to be earned. I’ve earned it in the gym, the way I’m working with Andy. Now it’s time to earn it in a fight. No matter what Lewis Crocker comes out and tries to do, my job is to overcome all his challenges and then let mine flow, and the end goal is to be the world champion – and I think come September 13, I’m going to be the world champion.”
Many thought the first fight, going in, was hard to call. This time Donovan is a significant favorite. Crocker has said, with that in mind, the pressure is off.
Donovan, though, contends he is not feeling any additional expectation this time around.
“I don’t see it as extra pressure,” he said. “As I said, it’s an unbelievable feeling to be fighting for a world title at 26 years old in Ireland, being favorite, having one of the best teams in boxing around me. Potentially, I always knew that I was going to push for a world title, and Andy has always told me I was always working towards being a world champion. Look, I’m on the brink of becoming a world champion. I’m not getting excited. I’m not going ahead of myself. As I said, world titles is earned, they’re not given, so I'm expecting a very, very good Lewis Crocker. And people on the outside look in and they think, ‘Oh look, Paddy’s favorite to win this fight.’ ‘He’s going to win this fight.’ ‘What round are you going to stop him?’ It doesn't work like that. They know nothing about boxing. Boxing is a two-man combat sport; anything can happen. It’s proven over many years that anything can happen in a fight, and I have to be cautious of everything, but I have to be very confident in what I can do.”
The disappointment, anguish and frustration of what happened last time didn’t leave Donovan for several weeks. He spent time with his family, and then he went back to work with his coach.
“Family is important to everybody,” said Donovan. “I think I’m surrounded by so many good people. My dad was my amateur coach. I have a brother Edward, he’s also a professional fighter. Jim Donovan, who makes his debut [on Saturday], my first cousin on my undercard. My brother-in-law is another professional fighter. So we’re surrounded by people that love the boxing game, and that’s very important. My dad always kept us well-disciplined, kept us in the gym, kept us grounded, kept us working, kept us in tune with things that was important instead of things that wasn’t important, kept us a good company. It’s very, very important that I was led down a great path, and after that it was up to me if I wanted to push on to be a great fighter. If I wanted to work hard in the gym, that was all down to me. But, yeah, family is very important for me.”
Donovan has another family, too, in Andy Lee’s thriving gym as part of a quality roster that includes Ben Whittaker, Joseph Parker and Hamzah Sheeraz.
“The main thing for us, I think, under Andy’s guidance, is how grounded we all are, how close we bond together, and I think that's important in our gym,” Donovan explained. “We have this very, very good connection, no matter if it’s me and Joe or me and Ben or me and Hamzah – we’re all mixed up together. We’re all very, very close-knit together, and that’s the most important thing – to be in the gym with great surroundings and a lot of love and a lot of passion for the sport, and I think that's why we’re so successful.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn has spoken of the opportunities that lie ahead for the winner, and fights with the likes of Devin Haney, Conor Benn and Brian Norman Jnr.
Donovan does not fear any of them.
“I just, I believe as an athlete I can do most things in the boxing ring, and I think I can hold my own with any of the best fighters in the world at the welterweight division – and that’s not boasting or bragging,” Donovan stated. “The years of grinding in the gym, the sparring that I’ve had, success in the gym, I believe that the best is still yet to come. I think the 13th of September, you’re going to see a better me, the best me possible. The camp has gone brilliant, I’m looking forward to this opportunity, and there’s so many potential big fights, and it's time to push on to be a global star, not just an Irish star.”
Donovan said that since the first fight he has been noticed more by fans, but he admitted that while fame is a byproduct of success, it is not his purpose. That is in the ring.
Asked whether he has more confidence after the last fight, he replied: “I’m not sure. It’s just probably every fighter is different. Some are humble. I’m quite humble, but I’m just very confident, I think from the things that has happened outside my life. I think boxing is the most exciting part of my life. It’s a place where I can just open up to being the person that I want to be and, yeah, look, I’m just very, very confident and I’ve worked very, very hard for many years. I’m 26. I’ve been in boxing since the age of three, so I feel like all my life, the part of life’s journeys, has led me to this part of my life and probably this is why I have this little flair and confidence.”
Having Lee, whom he has been with since 2019, by his side and as an advocate has also clearly been instrumental. Donovan would walk through walls for his coach.
“I honestly am confident in what I can do and I’m confident in Andy Lee,” he said. “As long as I work hard and do the things with him in the gym, I think I can achieve anything I want in the sport. He believes in me, and I believe in him, no matter the opponent or how good the opponent is or how bad the opponent is. It’s just about me. It’s just about what I can do. If I can be the best me, well, then it’s in God’s hands, and if it’s good enough on the night, it’s good enough. But I think I’m very, very talented and I’ve got a great work ethic and a great team. That’s all that matters, really.”
With that in mind, the focus has been on what Team Donovan will do rather than what Team Crocker is working on. Between them, they’ve created a special six-month season in Irish boxing, and one of them will be crowned world champion on Saturday.
Donovan will hear nothing. His tunnel-vision will be locked in.
“This is the biggest night in Irish boxing history,” Donovan concluded. “And it’s a night that we have to display our best boxing, and whoever can do that will become a world champion. I don’t think the crowd will have much effect on it, really. It didn’t in the last fight, and I don’t think it will in this fight. But Belfast is the home of Irish boxing, to be fair. I’ve fought there maybe six or seven times as a professional fighter and I’ve had many training camps and fights in the amateurs down in Belfast, so I know the city pretty well and I’ve got a great fan base there. I’m really loved in the city and I look forward to going back to Belfast and getting the job done, becoming world champion. I’m sure there's a lot of people in Belfast who want to see me win.”
Belfast’s Crocker will have more fans there on the night, but when Donovan’s eyes narrow and everything else falls silent, Donovan’s only intent will be righting what he believes went wrong last time.
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.
