Paddy Donovan will travel to the other side of the world as he aims to secure a third bout with Lewis Crocker
Paddy Donovan is determined to set up a third clash with Lewis Crocker by defeating Australian Liam Paro on his home turf early next year. A deal has been struck for the Limerick southpaw to take on Paro in his native Brisbane.
The clash will serve as an IBF welterweight title eliminator and is scheduled for January 16 on the undercard of the all-Australian 157lbs catchweight encounter between Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa.
Donovan was beaten by Crocker in his previous two outings – a contentious disqualification in March and a narrow split decision in September. The second of those defeats came in the contest for the vacant IBF strap, reports the Irish Mirror.
The Andy Lee-trained boxer is convinced he did sufficient to emerge victorious last time against Crocker at Windsor Park and remains confident he can overcome former super-lightweight world champion Paro to earn a trilogy bout with the Belfast fighter.
“The last two fights I believe are very, very controversial,” Donovan told Boxing Scene.
“I’ve watched the last fight back a lot of times and every time I’ve watched it I think I’ve won the fight. That’s not just being biased – I think I did enough to win the fight. But look – it’s a great opportunity for me to run it back against Lewis. There’s unfinished business there. I might be in Lewis’ dreams – I’m sure he doesn’t want to fight me for a third time. But that’s my end goal. Beat Liam Paro, in Australia, and take on Crocker again, for the third time.”
He continued: “I’d like to think this time, after the last couple of fights, I deserve to get a fair shake. If I get a fair shake in Australia I believe I’ll dominate Liam Paro.”
The clash between Donovan (14-2, 11 KOs) and Paro (27-1, 16 KOs) was announced at a press conference on Tuesday. It will feature on the No Limit Boxing bill.
Promoter George Rose revealed: “There has been an agreement reached on that fight. While it hasn’t been officially signed off, everything has been agreed on. A man’s handshake is pretty much as good as a contract. So that’s where we’re at right now. It is agreed. It’s going ahead.
“Liam Paro will be fighting Paddy Donovan. This will be a final eliminator for that world title, and I’m stoked for Liam Paro. Because of the journey he’s had, becoming a world champion, losing his world title, and then fighting his way back to that position, we’ve been really excited for him to be on this journey to get back to the top where he belongs, and this is the fight that puts him there.”
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