BELFAST – With Team Paddy Donovan coming to terms with being disqualified and suffering the first defeat of their career to Lewis Crocker, they went through a range of emotions.

Speaking in the locker room in the SSE Arena afterwards, coach Andy Lee was angry but Donovan, head in his hands and head down, slumped in a chair, was heartbroken, dejected, and tearful. 

Yet there are always two sides to every story.

Jamie Conlan, Crocker’s manager, felt that justice had been done when referee Marcus McDonnell had thrown Donovan out for his third infraction. Having taken points for using his elbow, coming in with the head and then nailing Crocker after the bell, the DQ was on the cards.

“If you commit the fouls, you’ve got to be responsible for your actions,” said the former fighter and now head of Conlan Boxing. “It’s not like it was not a foul, that the headbutt wasn’t a headbutt or the elbow that split his [Crocker’s] eye open wasn’t an elbow and the punch after the bell wasn’t a punch after the bell. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the rules.”

Not unfortunate, but unjust, claimed Lee.

“Marcus McDonnell, his performance tonight was a disgrace, up there with the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Both guys were leading in with their heads. From a tactical point of view, when someone comes in like that, like Lewis does and is known to do, you can’t pull back or lean back from that, otherwise you’re going to get caught with a punch. You have to go to it and try to go either side. Both were going either side. I spoke to Marcus McDonnell in the fight. He agreed with me but he only took points off Paddy. He didn’t take a point off Lewis. Never even gave him a caution. Secondly, the worst part of it all is, he could see Paddy was going for the finish. If he could hear the bell, why didn’t he stop the fight. ‘Bang, ding, stop boxing.’ He was a million miles away. He was admiring Paddy’s work or whatever he was doing, because he messed up. The bell goes, the referee’s supposed to say, ‘Stop boxing.’ “Paddy’s a fighter. You’re supposed to punch until you hear the bell. Paddy didn’t hear the bell. The crowd, the noise, Paddy didn’t hear the bell and Marcus McDonnell was supposed to stop the fight there and then, stop the fighters from punching; it would have stopped Paddy from getting disqualified and it would have stopped Lewis Crocker from having to take that punch he shouldn’t have had to take. It could have been a very damaging, career-ending punch. This man [Donovan] did nothing wrong tonight. He should be the winner.”

Donovan’s team immediately lodged an appeal with the IBF, the rankings body who sanctioned the showdown as an eliminator for the right to challenge champion Jaron Ennis. 

Southpaw Donovan, despite the deductions and who lost for the first time in 15 fights, was well ahead on the cards and was boxing excellently. Lee was delighted with what he saw from his fighter.

“Paddy showed me all the things I’ve seen and all the things, I believed when I first saw Paddy in the national stadium, and that’s only a fraction of what he can do in the gym,” Lee added. “This boy is just the best you’ll get. Great fighter and great human and he doesn’t deserve this. This was an injustice and you’ve got to be disgusted by the game, because you felt really hard done by.

“They [Team Crocker] were delighted with what happened. It wasn’t like it was a close fight. If that had happened to us, we would have said give them the decision, we were getting beat anyway. If you’re outclassed, you’re outclassed. This is not a loss for Paddy. This is not a loss. He’s beat Lewis, his biggest rival, and it wasn’t even close. He beat him easy.”

Lee felt Donovan could claim a moral victory and said afterwards he had feared the worst. Belfast was very much a Crocker stronghold.

“We feel hard done by but I’m extremely proud of what Paddy showed,” said Lee. “We’re in Belfast so I’m always anxious, I knew what they were going to do and I was right. It’s not a setback. It all adds to the story and the career and he’s going to be bigger than ever now and good for him. He deserves it.”

Conlan admitted to being impressed by the Limerick contender, who now desperately wants a rematch. “He was very good,” said Conlan. “I thought he would have moved a bit more but he fought a head-to-head battle a bit more. It was a bit different to what I expected. I thought he would try to keep distance more.”