“I LOVE it when the trainers get involved,” grinned Eddie Hearn, revelling in the stir of top table confusion. Lewis Crocker sat to his right. Paddy Donovan to his left. It took all of a minute for the incendiary rhetoric to begin between the fighters. Their cornermen quickly followed suit.
Taking to the mic, willing to go toe-to-toe with his rival trainer, Andy Lee thanked Eddie for bringing the March 1 headliner to Belfast, a city he graced only once as a professional, back in 2013.
Featuring on the undercard of Carl Frampton’s break-out win over Kiko Martinez, Lee’s 10-round points success over Dublin grafter Anthony Fitzgerald became tougher than expected. Despite the pre-fight bluster, Paddy Donovan’s evening is unlikely to be any easier.
“Paddy is going to announce himself on the world stage,” said Lee. “People in boxing have known about Paddy Donovan, and people who have seen him fight will know about him, but he’s ready to step up now. He’s 26. It’s the perfect age for a welterweight. He’s maturing physically and mentally, and in his home life as well.”
Lee views this fight as an Irish boxing celebration that will end with a new star emerging. Ireland desperately needs a new king or queen to rise. Katie Taylor has plied her trade mostly on away shores. The first time she stepped into a home ring as a professional she suffered her first defeat. That loss didn’t signal the end, but it hurt.
When Donovan and Crocker enter the ring, it will be a couple of weeks short of 16 years since Bernard Dunne slid to his knees on the canvas and celebrated a stirring world title win over Ricardo Cordoba in Dublin’s (since renamed) O2 Arena. Six months later, Dunne was back on the canvas in a different capacity, stunned by Thailand’s Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym. World title gone, retirement looming.
“I didn’t even see the punch,” mumbled a confused Dave Boy McAuley, trying to make sense of it all on RTE. It was a hazy evening that indicated the end of an era. Soon after, Brian Peters became more manager than promoter and RTE became more interested in golf and cycling than showcasing their legendary fighting men and women.
Gracing that same network, flanked by the brilliance of Emanuel Steward, Andy Lee headlined a few times in Limerick. Now a burgeoning trainer, he will look to pass on every ounce of knowledge to the next generational talent from that same city.
“People are expecting a very hard fight for him [Paddy], and it will be in a certain way because we’re going into the cauldron of Belfast and we’re the away fighter and all of that stuff, but in terms of the boxing aspect, I think Paddy Donovan is just too good. He’s a generational talent, and you’re going to see that on March 1st.”
Belfast’s boxing cauldron has swallowed up lesser men. If the press conference audio levels are anything to go by, Donovan will not be short of support in the SSE Arena. It will be loud, it will be vicious, it will take a lot to separate fighters and fanbases.
Describing himself as a proud Belfast man representing the entire city, Lewis Crocker is auditioning for a different role to Donovan. The gaping professional cavity left by Carl Frampton, briefly plugged by the temporary filling of Michael Conlan, is aching to be fixed. Belfast boxing cries out for a hero to rally behind.
In the lead-up to his fight against Tyrone McKenna, ‘The Croc’ let his emotions boil over as he yelled in McKenna’s face at a midweek event. “You let yourself down there,” cautioned Tyrone, wagging a comedic finger of disapproval across the press conference table later that week.
Crocker and trainer Billy Nelson were on fine form in the Europa Hotel when Andy Lee suggested that his man was the bigger puncher of the pair. “If you ask anyone that spars him [Donovan] or has shared the ring with him, you’ll see how powerful he is,” added the DAZN analyst.
Nelson could barely hide his amusement at his rival trainer’s comments.
“There’s absolutely no way Paddy Donovan punches anywhere near remotely as hard as Lewis Crocker,” scoffed the Scotsman. “Yes, he’s a skilled fighter. This is a very skilled man (points to Lewis Crocker). 100 amateur fights and only lost 10. A fantastic, skilled fighter.
“This is going to be a cracking fight, but Paddy Donovan will get stopped by Lewis Crocker – 100%. The difference between the two fighters is, in my opinion, and no disrespect to the opposition, Lewis Crocker is the more rounded professional. He’s fought better opposition.
“Paddy has not fought anyone in the top 30. A fully fledged welterweight. On March 1st, he’s going to find out what a fully fledged powerful welterweight is.”
While tensions never quite boiled up to the realms of the infamous Frampton vs. Quigg press conference -a volatile early afternoon affair that left poor Quigg in the middle of a whirlwind, trying to spew out some rehearsed one-line comebacks- it was clear Eddie Hearn was enjoying himself once again at Belfast’s top table.
He loves it when the trainers get involved, adding that he loves coming to Belfast for a proper grudge match. For all of the bluster, that’s one thing we can believe is true.
