Paddy Donovan continued his fine form with a knockout victory over Williams Andres Herrera at the Ulster Hall in Belfast tonight.
Donovan traveled north from his Limerick home, taking on Argentine Herrera on the Lewis Crocker-Jose Felix undercard.
The pair collided in a scheduled 10-round bout with Donovan’s WBA regional title on the line.
Donovan started on the front foot, claiming the center of the ring with his southpaw jab in the opening seconds. The Irishman looked for the big shots early with Herrara’s back to the ropes for nearly the whole three minutes. Donovan landed a big left with his man on the ropes with 30 seconds left, and he followed up with another left hand while his opponent was doing his best to avoid danger in a calm but dominant round for the Andy Lee-trained fighter.
Round two began in similar fashion, with Donovan taking his time to land precise jabs. Herrera landed one laboured hook to the body which Donovan had zero respect for. Donovan let go a good combination at the halfway stage. The round ended with Donovan on the offensive, Herrera backed into the corner as his adversary was having it all his own way.
Donovan sent a straight left to the body to open the third round. Herrera hit the canvas seconds later, but it was ruled a slip. Nonetheless, Donovan smelt blood and began to grin wickedly as he set about dispatching the Argentine. Donovan pushed the action landing various big left hands at his choosing. It was one-way traffic with Donovan looking on another level.
Donovan had closed the show in the fourth-round in his last outing in Belfast in November, and the crowd were expecting a similar result in the north. Again, he started in cruise control picking away with his right hand jab to unleash his left. Herrera was now in survival mode in true Argentinian fashion. Donovan landed another good combination to the head to end the round.
But there was a lot more zip from Herrera at the beginning of round five, the Argentine landing a right hand to Donovan's head in the opening seconds. Herrera maintained his offensive style trying his best to roughhouse the home fighter.
Herrera began aggressively again to open the sixth. However, he was clocked with a big counter hook with Donovan on the ropes. Donovan landed another left hook that drew an applause from the crowd. Seconds later the Irishman rattled the skull of his opponent with a flashy three-punch combination. The pair traded with anger in the final seconds, Donovan coming out on top.
Round seven saw Herrera again press the pace, but Donvan was more than comfortable working off the back foot. Donovan scored with a big body shot that sent Herrera to his knee as he winced. The visitor got back to his feet to meet an attacking Donovan looking for the end. He chased down his man to land more body and head shots with his opponent trapped in the corner, going down under the Irish onslaught. He did get back to his feet to see one more attempt, but was quickly pounced upon by Donovan. Referee Bob Williams stepped in to wave the contest off at 1.47 under Herrera’s protest.
Donovan improves to 13-0 (10 KOs), with Herrera’s record moving to 15-3 (6 KOs). Herrera takes a first knockout defeat in career.
