THERE were victories for Ennis boxers and brothers Edward and Paddy Donovan at the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday night.
They were fighting on Jay Quigley’s undercard, with the Donegal man making his first ring appearance since coming up short in his world title challenge against Demetrius Andrade in 2021.
Edward had a hard fought six round contest against Frank Madsen, and while he ultimately secured a wide points victory, ‘the Dominator’ had to earn it against a tough opponent, who never stopped trying. Edward’s support was one of the features of the night, so enthusiastic at times that it almost looked like they’d climb in the ring to help their man.
For Paddy it was a more straightforward night’s work, as he knocked down Luis Eduardo Borges Da Silva four times before the referee called a halt in the very first round. The victory brings his record to 10-0 with seven knockouts.
Paddy is set to have his next outing on the undercard of Katie Taylor’s homecoming fight next month. The show will be the biggest seen in the Republic of Ireland in recent years, while it will be streamed by DAZN and is likely to have a huge international audience.
Martin ‘Gugu’ Donovan was a proud father after the two victories. He is involved in the training of both Edward and Paddy and he said he was very happy with their performances.
“Edward won every round, he was landing the best shots, but his opponent had gone the distance with world champions. He was very, very hard to get rid of. It was a good fight, a good fight for the crowd.”
“The fella Paddy boxed had 11 fights and nine knock outs before. Paddy caught him early and after that he didn’t recover. He was there for the taking after that.”
“I was very pleased. There’s not much to say about Paddy’s fight. Edward got a lot of rounds and the opponent was very tough, he was a lot more experienced than Edward too.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.