Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan square off on March 1 at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The scheduled 12-round welterweight matchup, which was originally announced as a title eliminator, tops the fight card live on DAZN. At a launch press conference, the fighters previewed their clash and went face-to-face for the first time.
Undefeated Crocker (20-0, 11 KOs) won his previous bout last June in Birmingham, England by unanimous decision against Conah Walker. In Early 2024, the 28-year-old Belfast native headlined the event in front of his hometown crowd and stopped Jose Felix in the fifth round.
“I think the major difference is in this fight between me and him is this will be like my fifth time headlining,” Lewis Crocker said at Europa Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland. “I felt more pressure against McKenna than I do against him. This is his first time in a big fight. I’ve done way more professional rounds.”
“Paddy makes to want the thing that it’s North vs. South, which it isn’t at all, it’s Belfast vs. Limerick. I represent all of Belfast, every community from Belfast and I couldn’t be more proud. I’m a proud Belfast man. The best thing to ever happen was that Walker fight because they’ve taken so much confidence from it. Me and my team know what happened on fight week which affected me in that fight. I’ve made no excuses because I’m not a b***h. I’m not like this man here. I made no excuses and I battled it out.”
“I’ve beat a better fighter than he’s ever beat. Let’s not forget, the worst version of me beat the best version of Conah Walker. I take confidence away from that. They’re taking way too much confidence from the Walker fight and I’ll be a different man, I’ll be a tough man to beat on March 1st. Mark my words. I beat this man, without a doubt. It’s going to be the toughest night of his life.”
‘I’m going to show you what a real Irish fighter is’
Unbeaten southpaw Donovan (14-0, 11 KOs) won his previous bout last June in Leeds, England via ninth-round TKO against Lewis Ritson. In January, the 26-year-old native of Ennis, Ireland fought on the Crocker vs Felix undercard in Belfast, stopping Williams Andres Herrera in the seventh round.
“You’re afraid of Walker so you got forced to fight me,” Paddy Donovan said. “You had no other choice but to fight me. I knock Lewis Crocker out. I don’t believe Lewis is a world-class fighter. I think he’s a top-level British-level fighter but not a world-class fighter. There’s levels, and I’m a lot better than Lewis.”
“I’ve had ten fights and I’m in the top ten in the world. It took him 20 fights. In his 16th fight he fought a guy with 40 losses on his record, and you’re telling me he’s a better fighter than me? That’s right, journeyman. I believe Walker won the fight. It was a tight fight, but I believe Walker won the fight. I believe Crocker was scared to rematch Walker because he knew he was going to get beat in the rematch.”
“He was forced to fight me. You don’t want to fight me. You never called me out, we’ve been pushing for this fight for the last 12 months – not once did you talk about it. I believe I have the best team around me possible. I have the perfect team. I believe I’ll get the job done in tremendous fashion. On the night I’ll have more support there than him. Lewis Crocker – I’m going to give you the hiding of your life come March 1st. I’m going to separate the men from the boys. I’m going to show you what a real Irish fighter is.”
Among the bouts featured on the Crocker vs Donovan undercard, Britain’s Tommy McCarthy (21-6, 10 KOs) takes on Steven Ward (14-3, 4 KOs) of Northern Ireland at cruiserweight. As well, Ruadhan Farrell (6-1-1, 2 KOs) and Gerard Hughes (5-0-1) battle it out in an all-Belfast contest at super bantamweight.
In addition, super middleweight Padraig McCrory (19-1, 9 KOs) and super bantamweight Jack O’Neill (2-0) are also set to make their ring appearance against opponents to be confirmed.