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Fighter Favourites: Eric Donovan

Our new weekly feature sees us ask Irish fighters their favourites from the world of boxing.

This week it is the turn of five-time National Senior Elite Championships, 2010 European bronze medalist, and current 2(1)-0 pro Eric Donovan.

Q: Favourite Current Fighter?
A: I like a few of them. Probably Vasyl Lomachenko, he’s just exceptional, an absolute joy to watch. He personifies the whole technical, the powerful, the tactical, everything, he’s just a master. He’s the equivalent of Pele and Maradonna in football terms, absolute class.

Q: Favourite of All Time?
A: My favourite boxer from the past would have to be Manny Pacquiao, even though he’s still currently a world champion. The old Manny Pacquiao. Just everything about him, his ability, his charisma, his attitude, his humour. He was just a breath of fresh air to watch progress through all the weight divisions, take on all the challenges. He was absolutely relentless, and does lots of humanitarian work as well. He’s my all time favourite

Q: Favourite Irish Fighter?
A: I used to love watching Andy Lee as an amateur. He’s a good friend of mine and I remember getting a questionnaire for the programme for the 2007 European Union Championships, and in it I said Andy Lee was my favourite boxer. He’s someone I looked up to because, even though we are good friends, I’ve always looked at Andy as a role model.

Q: Favourite Fight?
A: It would have to be Gatti-Ward. You can’t not say that. That had everything, and just to look at those two, they went to the soles of their boots, and then to see them side by side in the hospital afterwards – I don’t know if we’ll ever see the likes of it again.

Q: Favourite of your own Fights?
A: The 2010 Irish Senior final against David Oliver Joyce was good on a personal level because he beat me. To be able to come back and beat him when I thought I was dead and buried, after losing the first fight I thought that was the end of my career, but to come back and beat Ross Hickey in the semis and then Davey in the final, and to be awarded with Boxer of the Chapionships, that was a huge personal achievement for me. Then winning my second professional fight on a knockout [v Krzysztof Rogowski] was something that I’d never really experienced before, the whole putting someone down three times in one fight. That was cool, and I could definitely get used to that.

Photo Credit: Laszlo Geczo Photography

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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