Andy Lee backing Paddy Donovan all-Irish fight of the century

The fight being in Belfast would seem like an obvious advantage for Crocker, but Lee says that's not necessarily the case

Sat, 01 Mar, 2025 - 07:40

Owen Ryan

The winner of Saturday's fight in Belfast between Paddy Donovan and Lewis Crocker becomes mandatory for the IBF World Welterweight title, currently held by Jaron 'Boots' Ennis. With that pot of gold on the horizon, this will be the biggest all-Irish fight seen for many years.

Former middleweight world champion Andy Lee will be in Donovan's corner and says he can't remember a fight between two Irishmen to rival it. "I'm struggling to think of one. There might have been one 100 years ago," he laughs.

Lee acknowledges that Crocker is a talented fighter, but believes Donovan has the skills to outbox him. "Crocker doesn't have many weaknesses to be honest with you and what he does he does very well. He's very aggressive, a strong puncher, puts a lot of pressure on, tries to break his opponents down.

"If Paddy fights the wrong fight it'll be a hard night for him. But if Paddy boxes the way he can, uses his advantages, uses his better ring skills, uses his boxing, especially early in the fight he'll get the timing right after that. Then go about doing his job, breaking Crocker down. It's important in the first couple of rounds to be careful, not to take any risks, and once you have a look at him and establish his patterns you set about your own work.

"But I think Paddy being the puncher that he is, he could easily catch him with a punch in the first round and it'll be over very quickly. It's that kind of a fight, it could go either way because they are both big punchers and they'll both desperately want to win."

The fight being in Belfast would seem like an obvious advantage for Crocker, but Lee says that's not necessarily the case. "It can go for you and go against you, especially in big fights. It puts added pressure on him being in his home town. There's a lot of distractions fighting in your home town, people calling, wanting to get tickets. Usually you'd be locked away and having time to yourself, but at home you'd be a lot more involved. It can also be of benefit, but it can be a hindrance as well.

"When I fought in Limerick it was great to have the support, it does lift you up, but there's a lot of pressure with it, a lot of people you don't want to let down, there's a lot of distractions with it."

Lee was in Joseph Parker's corner in Riyadh last Saturday night, as he knocked out Martin Bakole inside two rounds.

Parker had been set to fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF world heavyweight title, before the English fighter's withdrawal. Lee says that in a sense Parker was on a hiding to nothing facing late replacement Bakole, but he performed well. "Bakole is a very dangerous fella, and if Joe had beaten him after a number of rounds they'd say 'oh, he was tired, he wasn't prepared' but it worked out perfectly. Joe knocked him out in the second round and that punch would knock anybody out.

"Bakole didn't get knocked out because he was tired or exhausted, he got knocked out because he got hit with the perfect punch. If he had 20 weeks preparation that punch would still have knocked him out. I'm disappointed Joseph isn't world champion right now but that'll come. It's another high profile win for Joseph against one of the top competitors."

There has been plenty of back and forth between Donovan and Crocker, but Lee said he had told Donovan to conclude it this week. "I had a word with him just to disengage with all that stuff because it's energy sapping. It's grand to build a fight, let him know you're there, let him know you're no punk, but now it's just time to disengage and smile and focus on the fight.

"They'll want Paddy to be riled up, they'll try to get under Paddy's skin, they're going to try and make him emotional, because they need to get every advantage. I think they're a bit insecure, they've seen the sparring that Paddy has had, they've seen Joseph's performance, I think they're a bit nervous and they'll try everything they can to get under Paddy's skin. We're ready for everything, I'll make sure Paddy is well insulated and well protected from all the things they try to do. Paddy needs to be calm now, relax and enjoy it, just get ready for the fight."

For Lee himself it has been a very intense few weeks, preparing a fighter for a world title fight and another for a world title eliminator, with the fights only a week apart but in cities thousands of miles away from each other. "The travelling was tough, but it's great to be doing it. I'm involved with two of the biggest boxing fights in the world, there's been one success so far and hopefully another one on Saturday."

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