To follow Paddy Donovan is to ride the roller coaster.
The crushing disappointment of throwing away a lead only to be disqualified against Lewis Crocker, the opportunity to put things right in the rematch only to be dropped twice and lose a decision and then to be written off in Germany as an underdog by many, only to score a superb win over dangerman Karen Chukhadzhian.
It’s been quite an 18 months for Donovan, who now, while sitting as the No. 1 contender for Liam Paro’s IBF title, faces old sparmate Tyrone McKenna on the biggest fight card in Irish history on Saturday night.
Donovan and McKenna will box at Croke Park on Saturday before 80,000 expectant fans, who will fill the stadium to watch Katie Taylor’s final fight against Flora Pili in the headliner.
The chance for Donovan to be part of the show while he waits for Paro, who incidentally claimed the title from Crocker, was too much for the Limerick southpaw to turn down.
“Obviously Tyrone is a very experienced fighter. He’s been here many times and it’s a fight that I can’t have a slip-up in, simply. It’s a must-win fight. I can’t allow myself any slip-ups, so I’m working really hard.”
I spoke to Donovan a couple of weeks ago as the fight drew near and McKenna rounded out his training in the US under coach Bozy Ennis.
Donovan had seen that his countryman had been in Philadelphia and knew it was a sign of how seriously McKenna is taking the job.
“It’s a very, very dangerous fight, it’s one where we have to be on our best game and same goes really for the two of us. It’s two experienced fighters and we’re fighting in front of 80,000 Irish fans. So we’d want to be we want to perform. So let’s see what’s gonna happen.”
As circumstances would have it, I was in Paddy Donovan’s locker room as he wept having lost to Crocker the first time, and I was in it again in Germany as he celebrated breathing new life into his career against Karen.
The relief was palpable. Promoter Eddie Hearn had made the trip to Mannheim and I had breakfast that morning with Andy Lee, who knew what the stakes were in Germany.
Wherever it takes Donovan now, it’s been a crazy journey for the pair of them. It was Donovan who brought Lee into the coaching sphere, such was his prodigious talent, and at the start of the ride, they looked for experienced men to spar. One was Tyrone McKenna.
“Let’s just say the start of my professional journey, I would have done a lot of rounds with Tyrone while he was at the peak of his powers, so we know each other pretty well,” Donovan recalled.
Asked for detail, he added: “Listen, to be fair, Tyrone has always been very durable, very, just very experienced really, you know. I’ve always been extremely talented and, yeah, the rounds were great. They’re a great experience for me and I’ve helped him a lot in his career at that time, so we learned off each other, but it’s in the past and anything can happen and I’m just looking forward to fighting with him.”
And Donovan is expected to win. He’s a significant favourite, with McKenna a 10/1 outsider. Of course, that takes the pressure off McKenna, but Donovan is looking forward to enjoying the occasion.
“It’s the first time that I really get the chance to express myself, but the Irish fans, really whether they’re supporting me or him, they’re gonna enjoy a cracking fight. It’s a southpaw fight, he’s durable, he’s Irish. There’s a lot to it, so I’m excited to see how it unfolds. The whole venue… the whole stadium… The event. I’m just looking forward to this one.”
It is hard to envisage a time when Paddy is not asked about Lewis and Lewis is not asked about Paddy.
Donovan saw his great rival lose his IBF title in Australia and felt Liam Paro – who Donovan is now in line to face – had done enough to deservedly win the fight.
“He won the early rounds, Lewis came on strong at the end,” recalled Donovan. “I think Lewis left it a bit late to up the gears and when he did up the gears Paro struggled the last two or three rounds, but this is a big chance for me. It’s a very, very big chance to win a world title and I was confident with Crocker and I was favourite to win the fight. I ended up losing the fight, but I think this fight would suit me a lot better than Crocker did. I’m a lot more experienced, a lot more hungry and I think it’s just my time. I’m 27. I’ve felt it all so far and I’m eager now to get in and just express myself, become a world champion.”
Matchroom lost both purse bids at the time, for Crocker to fight in Australia and Donovan to fight in Germany.
Does Donovan covet the Paro fight in Ireland?
**“**It doesn’t really matter,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where you fight. They’re saying about Crocker and Paro and if it was at home [in Ireland] he [Crocker] would have got the nod, it wouldn’t be fair because Paro won the fight, deservedly won the fight. No matter where the playing ground was, Paro won the fight. So realistically, I really don’t give a heck where the fight’s gonna be as long as it’s just a fair decision. He beats me? Well and good. But if it doesn’t and we fight, I win the fight, just give me the decision. We move forward.
“Lately, it’s all about who’s at home blah blah blah. Who really cares? As long as the best fighter wins, that’s what boxing is about, the best fighter goes through to the next stage and it gives the best fighter a chance to express himself further in his career. Doesn’t matter where the fight’s gonna be, just as long as the fight’s gonna be fair. That’s all.”
Paddy has often been the main event already in his 15-2 (11 KOs) career. Now 27, he’s happy to play second fiddle tomorrow night because, of course, when Croke Park comes alive, it will be for Katie Taylor, and Donovan is just fine with that.
“Listen, it’s hard not to listen to the noise about Katie,” he smiled. “Katie is the greatest female fighter that has ever lived. She’s from the Emerald Isles. She’s the greatest athlete we’ve ever seen in this country or probably ever will see. She’s been amazing. It’s an amazing opportunity for me as well to be on her card. It’s my third time and I’m very, very excited. Katie has done amazing things for Irish boxing and she deserves everything because outside the ring and inside the ring she’s the greatest.”
Taylor is now 40, and while she has many years on the young Limerick man, Donovan has seen more than his fair share in and out of the ring.
I joked that he must feel nearer 37 than 27.
“It feels like that lately. It just feels like that, even for myself, I suppose boxing is a strange sport,” he sighed.
“Really, it’s an extremely unforgiving, unforgettable sport. So far in my career, there’s been ups and downs, clearly to be seen. But I think that’s what’s gonna make me a better champion. I think when my story is written, to look back at it, it’ll be one of the best boxing stories that ever come out of Ireland. The controversial fights with Crocker, not becoming a world champion and to go into Germany against Karen Chukhadzhianand let’s be realistic, he is one of the most avoided fighters in the welterweight division, no one wants to fight him, so going to Germany was an extremely dangerous thing to do. A lot of people wrote me off going there and that to lose that, three losses on the record, it would have been a hard bounce back, but thankfully we got the job done. Even though I felt very, very comfortable in the fight, I thought I won the fight quite clearly. I won it by the narrowest, so yeah, boxing is a crazy sport, but this is the journey that I’m on right now and it brought me to Croke Park and it’s brought me to fight Tyrone McKenna and challenging again for a world championship [if he moves on to Paro], so hopefully, God willing, it will all be worth it in the end.”
He pledged to go “full steam ahead” at McKenna and that he is looking to win in the “best fashion possible.”
“We called him Eddie Boy,” Donovan said. “My uncle Edward was just 49 and he passed away after a stroke shortly after the Karen fight. You know, all my family is quite a close-knit family, you know, it’s just one of them things. I’m going used to it. It feels like every fight now, Tris, before or after there’s a death in the family, so we’re a bit numb to it. We just continue to go forward really.”
And while there has been trauma both in and out of the ring, there has been a consistent presence in the shape of coach Andy Lee.
The two have become incredibly close, and Donovan has stayed on track largely as a result of Lee’s experienced and calming approach.
“Listen, without Andy, I’d be in a strange place. I don’t even want to say on here where I’d be. But I’ve a great team. Andy’s been monumental to me. Keith O’Sullivan in America has been the same thing. These guys keeping me on… It’s not about what Andy is doing because when I turn up to train, I’ll always be the same… very, very disciplined. I work extremely hard, but sometimes I can suffer outside the gym and I think Andy’s done a great job managing me, like what Jose Mourinho did with Chelsea or Alex Ferguson did with Manchester United to all the players. I think Andy is very, very good at managing all of us in our own aspects individually brilliantly. He’s done a great job and I’m still here. I’m still fighting and I’m still trying to keep on that path of becoming world champion, which is not easy. My God, it’s not easy.”
And yet, in what could be considered criticism for the likes of Lee, we are often told there are no teachers left. Donovan scoffs at that, of course.
**“**Listen, I think Andy’s become a student himself under Emanuel Steward and under Adam Booth and I think Andy is a teacher. He’s one of the best of what he does, not just an exceptional coach. Let’s just say maybe my story is not as dramatic as Mike Tyson and Cus D’Amato, but without Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson would have suffered early on and Andy was that figure for me – simple as.
Does Donovan ever wonder whether he is being given advice that was given to Lee by Booth, or by Steward?
“Say in the lines of boxing-wise, I always question that, and for this camp I’ve been training a bit like the way Emanuel would have trained Andy, I suppose,” he explained. “But then there’s some fights where Andy will be on the pads and he’d be a bit like Adam Booth. But as a teacher, I think he’s so wise and intelligent. I think he has a bit of Adam and a bit of Emanuel. I think Andy is just a different breed, really. He’s the last of a dying breed, and thankfully he’s in my life.”
And Donovan’s life is dedicated to boxing, even through those ups and downs and even though he might no longer view it through the same lens.
“When you start any sport, you’re a kid, you’re enjoying the sport,” he said. “You’re doing it because you love it. But once you kind of come to an age where things really change, your mindset really changes, problem starts to come, family issues, blah blah blah, etc. But it goes for a lot of fighters.
“It’s not easy. I didn’t understand that it was going to be this tough or this challenging. But look, the main thing is just winning in the ring. Right now, Tyrone is in my way and it’s probably the first fight where I feel like not angry, but I really just want to get on with this, get Tyrone out of the way and go win the world championship. Just as simple as that really. I know it’s not an easy task to do but my God, I’m hungry now.”
Enjoy Ireland at the weekend Tris. Hopefully it stays dry. Andy Lee a class act you can tell how much he's helped Paddy