Lewis Crocker v Paddy Donovan II

Weight:

147 (Welterweight)

Notable belts:

IBF

Date:

13 September 2025

Venue:

Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park, Belfast

I'll start off with the fact that neither of these guys should be fighting for a world title if we're being honest, and none of us thought it would be a fight worthy of a world title but then it ended up being one. Crocker came out so different and shocked us all. He boxed on the outside and I don't think anyone thought it would work. I've never seen anyone win with this gameplan and it was insane that Crocker was the first one I'd see doing it. Donovan got caught twice and it was crazy. The second one especially was huge and came out of absolutely nowhere. He did box back well and will feel hard done by like Ishamel Davis in the fight previous, but just like that fight, I felt this could've went either way. So many rounds were nip and tuck with both men doing barely landing anything so they could’ve been scored to either man. No robbery here in my opinion and instead an incredibly surprising winner. As Crocker said, no one gave him a chance, even us Irish and Northern Irish, but he put on such a performance to bring Belfast another world title. Can't say it was the most entertaining fight (aside from the knockdowns) but it was certainly some of the most fun I've had watching an Irish title fight live.