Defiant Lewis Crocker makes Paddy Donovan vow as he promises to silence doubters

Paddy Donovan is the huge favourite for Saturday’s IBF world welterweight title fight

Lewis Crocker says he is ready to silence his doubters by beating Paddy Donovan to be crowned the IBF world welterweight champion this weekend.

Donovan comes into Saturday’s rematch at Windsor Park as the massive favourite, and is as short as 1/7 with the bookies to have his hand raised.

However, Crocker vows that he is the shape of his life and is ready to produce his greatest ever display in the ring to win the All-Irish showdow.

“Nobody’s giving me a chance, I haven’t felt better,” the Sandy Row man said after Wednesday’s open workouts at Belfast’s Victoria Square Shopping Centre.

“I’m going to produce the performance of my life on Saturday. I’m so confident in my ability.”

He added: “This has been the dream since I was a kid. It’s the ideal scenario the way everything has panned out so God willing, I will be the world champion come Saturday night.”

The bout comes six months after Donovan was disqualified for hitting Crocker after the bell at the end of the eighth round at Belfast’s SSE Arena.

Prior to the disqualification, the Limerick southpaw was leading on all three judge’s scorecards, with his team successfully appealing the result, leading to the IBF ordering a rematch.

The pair took to the ring on Wednesday one day after Donvan described Crocker as looking ‘f***ed and ‘b*****ed’ after coming face-to-face with him for the first time during fight week.

Donovan asked ‘The Croc’ how his camp has been as they faced off at Windsor Park on Tuesday evening, with the hometown fighter describing it as ‘good’.

However, the Andy Lee-trained fighter said: “That’s not what I heard, kid. It’s all over for you. Once and for all, I will put it to bed. It’s a big night for you, Lewis, in Belfast, A big, big night kid.”

Crocker refused to rise to the bait, however. Responding to Donovan’s goading, he retorted with a quip about his rival’s new, plaited hairstyle and insisted he was ready for the biggest bout of his career.

Walking off the pitch towards his entourage, Donovan said: “He’s f***ed, he’s ‘b*****ed.”

Their initial match was a world title eliminator. However, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis has since relinquished the IBF belt to move up in weight class and the world title will be up for grabs when Crocker and Donovan go head-to-head again, with over 20,000 spectators expected to be present this Saturday.