{"id":687117,"date":"2026-05-22T10:29:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/687117\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:29:19","slug":"boxing-could-the-donovan-crocker-trilogy-be-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/687117\/","title":{"rendered":"BOXING: Could the Donovan-Crocker trilogy be on?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON Friday evening Limerick\u2019s Paddy Donovan took a big step closer to his dream of winning a world title by defeating Karen Chukhadzhian in a IBF welterweight eliminator.<\/p>\n

The impressive comeback performance was his first since the devastating loss against Belfast\u2019s Lewis Crocker in Windsor Park last September. Fighting in Mannheim, Germany The \u2018Real Deal\u2019 dropped his opponent twice before getting the decision. Ukrainian Chukhadzhian\u2019s record was 26-3 going into the bout so he was certainly no push-over and could have been a risky fight for Donovan who couldn\u2019t afford to lose for the third time in a row.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donovan moves to 15-2, his two losses coming at the hands of the Lewis Crocker. The boxing world will be licking their lips at the prospect of a trilogy fight between the pair, which could be in Croke Park later this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Crocker has the not-so-small task of defending his world title against Australia\u2019s Liam Paro in Brisbane in June. As the away fighter, Crocker will have to work even harder to ensure victory against a seasoned opponent and ex-world champion in Paro.<\/p>\n

Irish boxing fans will want the fairytale of a trilogy bout as part of Katie Taylor\u2019s final dance in Dublin\u2019s Croke Park, but the IBF welter-weight division remains hotly contested and both Crocker and Donovan will be focused on one thing: being world champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you have something to say on this issue? If so, submit a letter for publication to Conor McParland at c.mcparland@belfastmedia.com<\/a> or write to Editor Anthony Neeson at Belfast Media Group 43-47 Falls Road, Belfast BT12 4PD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ON Friday evening Limerick\u2019s Paddy Donovan took a big step closer to his dream of winning a world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[19848,19851,64,63,19852,802,7781,44,19846,19849,19847,5492,19850,588,85],"class_list":["post-687117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-andersonstown-news","tag-andytown-news","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-belfast-media-group","tag-boxing","tag-comment","tag-news","tag-news-belfast","tag-north-belfast-news","tag-north-of-ireland","tag-northern-ireland","tag-south-belfast-news","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}