“I‘m tougher than him, I’ve got more heart, I punch harder…” Lewis Crocker to face Paddy Donovan in all-Ireland battle in Belfast on March 1

THE prospect of Lewis Crocker versus Paddy Donovan on March 1 will shorten the winter for Irish boxing fans and, the Irish News understands, the venue will be Belfast’s SSE Arena.

The all-Ireland clash of the unbeaten welterweights had been mooted since earlier this year when they appeared on the same bill at the Ulster Hall.

Since then there has been no shortage of rumour or intrigue but it seems the negotiations have been completed and Limerick’s Donovan and Belfast’s Crocker have begun their preparations in earnest.

“Hopefully it all goes ahead – I’ve agreed to everything,” said Crocker.

“I’ve been in big fights over the past year and this one will be massive between two undefeated guys. I think he’ll be more worried about the fight than I am.

“He’s never had any adversity at all in fights. For the first time he’s fighting a proper fighter and for the first time he knows that he’s not going to stop his opponent.

“In every other fight he’s had he’s gone in feeling comfortable that he’ll get the stoppage but there’s no chance he’ll stop me. I’m tougher than him, I’ve got more heart, I punch harder and he’ll find out a lot about himself.

“The most he’s gone in his career is eight rounds and I’ve headlined and been 10 rounds three times. I’ve had to deal with stuff that he hasn’t.”

Last time out Crocker had to battle his way to a unanimous points win over Conah Walker in England. The performance didn’t impress the Donovan camp and his coach Andy Lee said afterwards that his man ‘The Real Deal’ would have to much for ‘Croc’ when they came together.

“My last performance is the only reason Andy Lee is wanting the fight now,” said Crocker.

“That’s brilliant because I’ve wanted the fight the whole time. He’s not the champion here – I’m higher ranked, I’ve had more fights and I’m better than this guy in every way so he’s in no position to call the shots.”

Donovan had called for the fight to be in his native Limerick but said he would travel to Dublin, or New York… Anywhere but Belfast which, it seems, will be the venue.

“I’d have fought this guy anywhere,” said Crocker.

“He was talking about the fight being in Limerick but he’s in no position to call any shots – he’ll fight where Eddie Hearn tells him to fight.

“I’d fight him in his back garden, I don’t care. I think it showed weakness in him to try and call where the fight show be – I’ll fight him anywhere.”

Crocker is ranked three with WBA, five (IBF) and 10 (WBO) and Donovan – fifth (WBA), sixth (IBF) and 14th with the WBC – is not far behind. It means that the winner of what should be a cracking contest could march on to a world title fight in the summer.

“It has to be a world title after this,” said Crocker.

“He’s highly-ranked as well so you’d hope this would be a world title eliminator.

“I think he (Donovan) will be ballsy-enough now but when it comes to head-to-head it’ll be a different story. What’s he had? 14 fights. I remember when I had 14 fights – the difference in me now and the experience I’ve learned since then…

“There was way more pressure on me against Tyrone McKenna than there’ll be against Donovan. McKenna was Belfast v Belfast! This is the first big fight that he’s been in so I’m looking forward to seeing how he reacts to it.

“I think he’s a bit of a pretty boy.

“Lewis Ritson was giving him problems in his last fight and he was moving up from lightweight. If he’s doing that then I’d fancy myself big time.”

AN IBO super-featherweight title defence against Leigh Wood in Nottingham Arena in late March/early April is becoming increasingly likely for Anto Cacace but nothing has been confirmed as yet.

The possibility of ‘The Andytown Apache’ defending his hard-won IBF title against hammer-handed Eduardo Nunez is still an option for the Belfast camp and negotiations are ongoing.

Wood beat Michael Conlan by dramatic last-round stoppage at Nottingham Arena in 2022. Conlan bounced back with two wins after that loss but hasn’t boxed since his surprise loss to Jordan Gill a year ago.

However, a return is on the cards in March and Conlan is currently weighing up several fight options.

Elsewhere, Kristina O’Hara-McCafferty is in training for a EBU title fight on March 25. Promoted by Frank Warren, she will be the first Irish woman to box for a European title.

TOKYO 1964 Olympic bantamweight and former professional featherweight Sean McCafferty is on the prowl encourage ex-fighters and boxing associates to join the Northern Ireland Ex-Boxers’ Association.

The books will be open for new members following the December monthly meeting in the National Club, Belfast.

McCafferty, who is treasurer of the NI EBA, said: “We hope to encourage a few new members to join the EBA at our AGM in January. So far this year we have enjoyed watching some old fight films during our monthly gathering at our headquarters in the National Club.

“Malachy McCafferty is in charge of processing old fight films for showing once a month. He is working on the technical moving of famous fight films from tapes to discs.

“So far, we’ve watched Rinty Monaghan and our old Bosco club hero Freddie Gilroy in some fights.”

McCafferty, who turns 80 next month, enjoyed a meeting with celebrity chef Fred Sirieix who was on his televised travels of a one-man push bike trip around Ireland.

“Fred approached me to arrange a spar for him in our Bosco gym,” he explained.

“He is a very friendly guy. The occasion was filmed – and I look forward to seeing Fred’s bicycle journey to be shown on TV early next year.”