Archive September 14, 2025

Lewis Crocker strutted into the biggest night of his life with a chip on his shoulder.

For six months, he had stewed on his first encounter with Paddy Donovan. Amid the brouhaha that followed a wild night inside Belfast’s SSE Arena, it was easy to forget that Crocker had won.

Only it didn’t feel like it. Sub-par on the night, Crocker was outfought by the all-action Limerick southpaw, but still left with a ‘W’ next to his name after Donovan was disqualified for landing a blow after the bell at the end of the eighth round.

When the inevitable rematch was confirmed, Donovan was installed as the favourite. It did not escape Crocker’s notice.

And so, within seconds of becoming Belfast’s latest world champion via a split decision win at a raucous Windsor Park on Saturday night, Crocker was keen to get his point across when a DAZN microphone was thrust under his chin.

“Nobody gave me a chance in this fight, nobody,” said the new IBF welterweight champion.

“But I want to say all the people who gave me stick after the last fight, when you write your post tomorrow make sure you write ‘Lewis Crocker world champion!'”

Later, in the calmer surroundings of his post-fight press conference, Crocker added: “Paddy’s a great fighter. I saw articles in the build-up saying he could be the greatest Irish fighter of all time.

Winning a world title is every fighter’s dream, but Crocker was afforded the opportunity of breaking through to become the latest star of the welterweight division on home turf, in a stadium that is a mere five-minute stroll from his house.

And in seizing the biggest chance of his life, he follows in Carl Frampton’s footsteps by triumphing on a rare night of championship boxing at Northern Ireland’s national stadium.

“You just witnessed a kid who changed his life tonight,” 28-year-old Crocker told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Crocker cut a stoic figure in the build-up all week, largely sidestepping the temptation to make grand proclamations and whip up the hype until Friday’s weigh-in when he vowed to knock Donovan out.

It did not quite pan out that way, but unlike their first meeting, Crocker nailed his gameplan and produced two of the bout’s most thunderous punches to knock his opponent down in the third and fifth rounds.

With the stakes drastically higher than their March encounter, it was a largely cagey affair, but Crocker remained disciplined and economical throughout, refusing to let Donovan build up the head of steam that came so readily to the 26-year-old six months ago.

For the home fighter, embracing his underdog status and staying low-key in the build-up facilitated a more relaxed, controlled performance.

“I was being patient and making him miss and I’d make him pay eventually,” added Crocker.

“Billy [Nelson, his trainer] wanted me to pick up the pace a bit, but I could see that he was waiting for me to time and when he missed I was able to counter.

“There was nothing there tonight, he never buzzed or me anything. I felt comfortable, I was blocking shots well and was making him pay when he missed.

After a stellar junior amateur career, Crocker turned professional in 2017. Three years later, he stopped England’s Louis Greene in the seventh round to win the WBO European welterweight title in Wakefield.

Two successful defences of that belt followed before attracting more attention with a dominant win over Tyrone McKenna – who beat Dylan Moran on Saturday’s Windsor Park bill – in December 2023.

“I’m just getting started in my career, and a thank you to Eddie [Hearn, Matchroom boss] it took that Tyrone McKenna fight to change my life to get some publicity.

“Here I am. World champion at Windsor Park. The best night of my life.”

The big question, naturally, centres on Crocker’s next step. In the ring, he was quick to call out Conor Benn, who has not fought since losing to Chris Eubank Jr in April.

“I just think, domestically, it’s a huge fight with great styles.

“It’s going to be entertaining from the get-go. Benn’s a quality fighter. People always mention his name but I always thought there was no point in saying anything because I didn’t have a bargaining chip, why would he fight me, but I’m world champion now.”

Hearn, too, was keen to insert some illustrious names into Crocker’s orbit, including two-weight world champion Devin Haney, WBA kingpin Rolando Romero and WBO belt holder Teofimo Lopez.

“They’ve never had a night like that in Belfast with those kind of names coming to Belfast,” said Hearn.

“But with Lewis and Conor being part of the Matchroom team, it’s an easy fight to make. We had one more stand [in the stadium] tonight and you’d certainly do that for a Conor Benn fight and if we did it at the O2, he [Crocker] would half fill it up with you lot anyway.”

It has been more than 2,000 days since bitter rivals Southampton and Portsmouth last faced each other – a 4-0 victory for Saints in the League Cup in September 2019.

Rewind to the most recent league meeting between the pair and you go all the way back to a 2-2 draw in April 2012.

Since that moment, the two clubs have been on quite different paths to get to Sunday’s highly anticipated derby in the Championship.

That time apart has done nothing to dampen the rivalry between Hampshire’s two biggest football clubs, with just 17 miles separating Southampton and Portsmouth.

In terms of major trophies, Portsmouth have won two English league titles and two FA Cups, while Saints have an FA Cup win to their name from 1976.

Since their most recent league meeting, Southampton enjoyed a run of 11 consecutive seasons in the Premier League, including four top-10 finishes and a taste of European football.

While there are natural rivalries between the cities and their ports, those between the two sets of supporters are shrouded in “mythology”, according to Colin Farmery, chair of trustees at the Pompey History Society.

A much-circulated story among fans has always claimed it stemmed from Southampton dockers breaking a Portsmouth picket line in the 1950s, leading to both sets of supporters calling each other by derogatory names.

“There’s all sorts of talk around why the names came about for what they call each other, and most of it is nonsense, to be honest,” said Farmery.

“There’s no evidence to back that up.

Since the turn of the century the two sides have only played each other on 10 occasions, and during the entire 1990s they only met once in the FA Cup.

There were only three derbies during the 1980s and in the 1970s they played four times – and in total the two clubs have only met 72 times in 125 years.

“The last derby was in 2019, and that was a long time for the grudge to be held,” added Farmery.

“There’s a lot of build-up over a long period of time and because that boil doesn’t get the chance to be lanced often enough, that contributes to the ferociousness of the rivalry.”

Southampton club historian Duncan Holley believes the fact that Saints have traditionally finished higher in the football pyramid has also fuelled the rivalry.

“In the past 64 seasons, Saints have only been below Portsmouth in finishing terms on seven occasions,” he said.

Holley said that relative success annoyed Portsmouth fans and “by the time the 1960s ended there was a lot of animosity coming from Portsmouth to Southampton”.

He added: “Saints fans then retaliated and decided to match the feeling, and that’s how it all became.

A figure who ramped up the animosity between both clubs in the mid 2000s was manager Harry Redknapp.

A few weeks after leaving Pompey in 2004, Redknapp made the controversial move up the M27 to Southampton having previously vowed that there was “no chance” of him doing so.

The following month the two sides were drawn together in the FA Cup, with former Pompey striker Peter Crouch scoring a 90th-minute penalty to win the fourth-round tie for Redknapp and the Saints.

But it was Portsmouth that then ended up winning the next two times that the rivals met by handsome scorelines, with five years between the games.

In April 2005, Portsmouth won 4-1 in a highly-charged atmosphere, with Redknapp emerging to a chorus of boos as he made his first return to Fratton Park.

It was a result which contributed to Southampton finishing bottom of the Premier League while Pompey stayed up.

Then in February 2010, en route to the final, they beat Saints by the same scoreline away at St Mary’s in the FA Cup.

Their most recent league meeting before this campaign was the 2011-12 Championship season where both games ended in score draws.

Southampton won promotion to the Premier League in 2012 and spent 11 seasons in the top flight, with a highest finish of sixth in that period.

In the 2016-17 campaign they enjoyed a memorable stint in the Europa League, which included a famous 2-1 win over Italian giants Inter Milan.

However, things took a turn in the 2022-23 season. They started the campaign with Ralph Hasenhuttl as head coach and, after Nathan Jones’ brief tenure, ended it with Ruben Selles at the helm, and were relegated.

Russell Martin led Southampton to promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt via the play-offs, but Saints then struggled in the top tier once again, with Martin and his successor Ivan Juric both paying the price for poor results.

The latest rebuild project is spearheaded by new boss Will Still, who has taken his first step into managing in England after impressing in France with Reims and Lens.

After relegation from the Championship in the 2011-12 season, Portsmouth then faced another drop as they found themselves in League Two for the 2013-14 season.

Following a number of ownership changes, the club ran into some serious financial troubles and were on the brink of bankruptcy.

However, in April 2013, Pompey became the largest community-owned football club in England when the club’s supporters trust raised about £2m through a share ownership scheme and ended up buying the club and consequently saving it.

Current owner Michael Eisner bought the club in 2017, and has since put millions of pounds into football operations and infrastructure at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth won promotion from League Two that same year under Paul Cook, finishing top of the division, and spent seven years in League One before winning the title in the 2023-24 season.

Boss John Mousinho joined midway through the 2022-23 season, just one year after gaining his pro licence, and was able to deliver the League One title in his first full season in management.