Paddy Donovan
The Real Deal
Bio
Right then, Paddy Donovan is the Limerick southpaw welterweight who got his career back on track at Croke Park on 5 September 2026, dropping Belfast veteran Tyrone McKenna with a lead right uppercut to the body in the second round and forcing a doctor's stoppage from a cut over the right eye in the fourth. He is now 16-2.
Make no mistake, he needed it. Two defeats to Lewis Crocker — a disqualification and then a decision in a world title fight — left plenty of people wondering whether Donovan was the fighter his team always said he was. On the Croke Park evidence he still is: fast, accurate, and nasty to the body, with the sort of long straight left and lead uppercut that orthodox fighters struggle to read.
Luke's view: a European title or a big domestic name at 147 is the right next move, not another world title shot straight away. Keep him busy, keep him ranked, and the world level will come round again. I back him to win whatever is put in front of him next.