The entire island of Ireland are seeking a new man to get behind following Carl Frampton’s retirement and Mick Conlan’s struggles, now it seems as though at least one of those nations may have a new poster boy, with an Irish derby reportedly signed.
Sean McComb was robbed of the opportunity to represent Belfast on the world stage when he was wrongfully denied a victory against Arnold Barboza Jr. back in April, where a win would have seen him become the mandatory challenger for Teofimo Lopez’s WBO super-lightweight title, although he was instead a victim of ‘corruption’ according to the well-respected Teddy Atlas.
As a result, Lewis Crocker appears as though he is the man to get behind in Northern Ireland, as he secured a third straight win in Belfast with a stoppage victory over Jose Felix. – who had recently knocked out Gary Cully, at the beginning of the year.
As Crocker seeks to improve on his #15 rankings with both the WBO and WBA, ‘The Croc’ has been tasked with Wolverhampton’s Conah Walker (13-2-1), whose consecutive knockout wins over Cyrus Pattinson and Lloyd Germain has seen him rise to fifth in the WBA rankings.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s Paddy Donovan sits at sixth in the IBF and seventh in the WBA rankings, fresh from a knockout win over Newcastle fan-favourite Lewis Ritson last month, improving his professional record to 14-0 after picking up 13 national titles as an amateur.
Following the success of both men, Crocker and Donovan have been linked to a welterweight showdown in recent months and it appears as though the proposal has been agreed, as Conlan Boxing’s Jamie Conlan confirmed to Boxing Tickets NI that Donovan has already signed for the fight – assuming Crocker gets past Conah Walker this weekend.
“(Paddy Donovan’s) signed in now to fight Lewis Crocker. If Crocker comes through Conah Walker, then they’re gonna have to meet. He wrote his cheques, he has to cash them in. It’s a fantastic fight for Irish boxing”
“I think it makes more sense [for it to take place] here [in Belfast], I don’t think Paddy has a big following, he has not had the opportunity to showcase it. I think that people will travel around, but I think that the following is with Lewis Crocker. It’s a fantastic fight, it’s a fight that will sell the SSE Arena and will grip the public because of the clash of styles, because of the clash of personalities and how they go about their work.”
Crocker will fight Walker in the co-main event of the Matchroom card in Birmingham on Saturday night, before Tyler Denny and Felix Cash take centre stage in a bout for the EBU middleweight title.
Elsewhere on the card, Shannon Ryan and Emma Dolan will battle it out for the British and Commonwealth super-flyweight titles, whilst amateur sensation Cameron Vuong returns in an acid test against Jeff Ofori, following an injury to rival Jordan Flynn.
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