SMITH: LET’S GET THIS FIGHT DON

FRANK SMITH teased the possibility of a North v South showdown between welterweights Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan after watching both men record stoppage victories at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on Saturday night.

Donovan had to dig deep against a tough opponent in Argentina’s Williams Andres Herrera before stopping him one minute and 44 seconds into the seventh round, while Crocker scored a huge knockout win against Jose Felix, who moved up in weight following his lightweight victory over Gary Cully in May.

Matchroom Boxing CEO Smith wants to see the undefeated pair fight next at the SSE Arena in Belfast in what would be a massive All-ireland clash.

He said: “I would love to see Paddy Donovan and Lewis Crocker. People say we should wait for it, but so many of these fights don’t happen when we wait for it. Someone loses, someone moves up in weight, so now is the time and I would love to do it at the SSE Arena.”

Crocker (inset, top), who weighed in three pounds overweight for his fight with Felix, has won all 19 of his professional fights, including 11 by stoppage, while Donovan

(inset, bottom) has recorded 10 knockouts from his 13 bouts.

However, the Belfast man believes it might be a fight for further down the line.

“It’s a 50-50 fight,” Crocker said. “I can see ways Paddy can win and ways I can win.

“It’s an SSE Arena fight. Paddy is 13-0 now but I think you can build it up another two fights (down the line) to make it exceptional.

“I hate talking like that as if I wouldn’t fight him. I’d fight him next no problem and he would fight me, but you could really do this well and build it up so it becomes even bigger, but we’ll see.”