The wavy hair and fresh-faced features have gone, replaced by a tight crop of brown hair and a goatee.
Paddy Donovan, cheeks chiselled and ready for war, has headed to Germany as an evolving fighter and man.
“No longer playboy. He’s mean boy from now on,” the Irishman smiles.
“I just said, ‘Fuck it. I want something tighter.’ When I get punched in my head and my hair is flying all over the place, it looks a bit neater and cleaner now, I guess.”
Donovan has come of age through a gruelling 2025 that left him dejected and heartbroken, no once but twice.
Firstly, in the SSE Arena in Belfast, he was putting on the performance of his life only to nail Lewis Crocker after the bell forcing the Limerick man’s disqualification.
Despondent, he wept in the dressing room while trainer Andy Lee cradled his head.
Quickly, behind the scenes, manager Keith O’Sullivan protested the bout’s final stages and a rematch was quickly awarded. This time, outdoors in Windsor Park, back in Belfast, it seemed as though the stage was set for Donovan’s coronation.
Alas, he was dropped twice and lost a decision, despite seemingly having won most of the rounds.
A forlorn Donovan trudged back to his dressing room while rival Crocker celebrated being crowned as the new owner of the IBF’s welterweight title.
“I feel like in two fights, I’ve won 90 per cent of the rounds, but yet I have two losses on my record,” Donovan adds. “So that is the craziest feeling that you’re ever going to feel as a fighter. Probably one of the strangest careers you’re ever going to get, but it is what it is. It’s difficult, but we’re here, and the good thing is we’ve got one win and we’re back in the limelight for the world title.”
The win that would take him there is an IBF eliminator on Friday night in Mannheim, Germany, where Donovan has traveled to take on Karen Chukhadzhian.
Crocker is the IBF champ, the No. 1 spot is vacated, Liam Paro is No. 3 and Chukhadzhian is No. 7.
But the fights between Donovan and Crocker, while both resulting in disappointment for the Limerick man, were very different from one another.
Donovan dominated the first, was free-flowing and full of swagger and confidence, yet he was cagier in the sequel and allowed the fight to slip away.
Why were the bouts so different?
“He just came out moving,” Donovan said of the difference between the two bouts. “He just came out on the defense, and I felt like he’s obviously not going to beat me in a boxing match. I think that’s where I felt quite confident early, until Howard Foster scored the third-round knockdown, which to be honest, Howard Foster is a fantastic ref, but I think that mistake really changed the fight for the next couple of rounds. It felt like there was never a knockdown. It should never have been given a knockdown and I got maybe flashes of deja vu from the first fight. I came back to the corner and explained to Andy. I felt like, ‘What if this is going to happen again in the last fight?’ Probably, mentally, I switched off, and by the time I switched back on, I still think I won the fight. I think I won nearly all the rounds.
“I think Lewis scored the two knockdowns. I think he’s realistically never done anything in the fight, really. It is what it is, it’s strange, but looking back, things could have been different, I guess.”
Despite the tears after the first fight, Donovan said he was more crestfallen after the second, maybe because it was a bigger occasion, in a stadium and with the title on the line.
“The fact that the performance was so good in the first one, and the mistake from Marcus McDonnell that caused the fight [to end], I think a lot had Lewis’ fear going into the first fight. ‘Oh, he’s going to be so strong, he’s going to be so powerful, and how is Paddy going to keep him off big punches?’ But I stood and I fought him. I beat him. And I realistically dominated him for the whole fight, really, at his own game. So even though I never got the result that night, I felt like when I got home, when I went to sleep, I could sleep. I was still happy with the performance. I’m still only a young boy, and I went to Belfast in just my 13th, 14th fight, and I challenged for world honors, and I performed at an extremely high level, so I was proud of myself. But the second fight, I felt obviously completely different, being so close to being a world champion, being hot favorite in the bookies to be a world champion, being favorite in everybody’s eyes to be a world champion and not to be a world champion, I think that is a very hard pill to swallow.”
Of course, the Crocker talk, while not irrelevant, is firmly in the rear-view mirror.
Both trainer Andy Lee and Donovan admit Chukhadzhian is a dangerous and well-rounded opponent.
It is a hard assignment, risky but loaded with as much jeopardy as reward.
“Very solid,” Donovan said of his opponent. “He’s a good fighter and I think he’s a better fighter than Lewis Crocker, if I’m to be honest. I think he is. I think he’s more solid, I think he’s a more all-round fighter. He’s got good lateral movement, side-to-side, good boxing, in and out and he’s a good puncher. I think we’re actually an extremely good match-up. It’s going to be a great fight. I think there’s going to be a lot of turns and twists in this fight but the fact is, if he’s to beat me, he’ll know he’s earned his victory and I hope it’s fairly.”
Donovan pauses then, and one would imagine he would be thinking back to what he deems to be two miscarriages of justice against Crocker.
It would be naïve to think Donovan has not thought about the danger of going to the judges’ scorecards on away soil.
He has been focusing on what is in his control in the gym, stoking his hunger and ambition.
“You never know,” he replies, asked about the officials. “Listen, if anyone deserves a fair shake, I think it’s me. I think it’d be the most saddest career that you’re ever going to get if I’m to lose. I think mentally it probably will break me, realistically, as a fighter. I feel like I have probably so far had quite a strange career. I’d sooner go into these fights knowing that I’ve lost fairly or knowing that I got beat fair and square in fights, In the previous fights I'd say, ‘Okay, it is what it is, fuck it, we move forward, we have this fight in Germany, we win, we win, we lose, we lose, it is what it is.’ But to have three losses on my record, feeling like I had won, it would be strange and I hope that doesn’t happen, I only ask for a fair shake because he won’t beat me on the night fairly.”
Donovan will again be guided into battle by Andy Lee, who has always expected big things from his charge. That has not changed as they’ve strategized ways to come out victorious in Germany.
“Andy still has the trust and the belief in me and I still trust and believe in Andy to become a world champion,” the 27-year-old says. “It’s just about getting everything right in Germany, which I think I can. Realistically, I know this is a tough fight with Karen but I can fight him, I can box him, I can do exactly anything that he wants on the night and I think whatever happens in the fight, I’ll become now victorious. I’m just ready for everything. I prepare for absolutely a toe-to-toe battle if it has to come down to it. I’m just really, really, really hungry and very, very motivated and I feel like I’ve got still a lot to prove. I think winning this fight guarantees me to be back up with the best fighters on the planet. It’s a big fight but that’s the good thing about boxing, I've got the opportunity. You know what I mean? There’s been a lot of negatives over the year but the positive thing is winning this and back fighting for a world title and I’ve got to be grateful for that.”:
Donovan is now asking himself whether he is good enough to be a world champion and if he is one of the best welterweights on the plant. He believes victory will show that he is, and he would have rather had in in Ireland or in the UK.
“I’m disappointed that Eddie [Hearn]’s lost the fight [purse bids] but then again, he’s lost Liam Paro-Crocker, who has the belt, which is not a good look for anybody, really, involved with the match-up. And I think you see it with Dalton Smith [who traveled to face Subriel Matias]. But look, it is what it is. Once you get in the ring, it’s an even playing ground. It’s all about who’s the best. That’s one thing about boxing. It’s not like a football game where you can shy away and defend or you can shy away and let someone else take the hits. So the only thing I ask for and the only thing I’ll be having my mind towards is just getting a fair shake, really. And if I can get a fair shake, I’m going to be extremely hard to beat. Hopefully it doesn’t go that far and I just get the knockout and get home.”
