'Eric Donovan was winning easy until he walked onto a left hook from the gods' — Eddie Hearn

Zelfa Barrett catches Eric Donovan with a big left. Picture: INPHO/Matchroom Boxing/Mark Robinson

Moral victories tend to be prescribed rather than pursued, those in receipt of consolatory plaudits rarely in the business of seeking them out.

So fine is the win-loss line across elite-level sport that the mere mention of settling for second best is athletic anathema.