Paddy Donovan Edges Chukhadzhian In IBF Eliminator

Paddy Donovan dragged himself back into the welterweight title picture in Mannheim, but this was no clean parade back to the front of the queue. It was a hard, nervy, sometimes untidy night against Karen Chukhadzhian, and by the final bell, Donovan looked less like a man who had solved a problem than one who had survived it.

The Irish southpaw was awarded a majority decision after 12 rounds at the SAP-Arena. Two judges favoured him by scores of 115-111 and 114-112, while the third had it level at 113-113. That was about the shape of it. Donovan deserved the verdict, chiefly because of the cleaner work he produced early and the two knockdowns officially credited to him. But Chukhadzhian had every right to leave the ring believing he had made the favourite work for every inch of ground.

Donovan began brightly, boxing with the sharper eye and the better variety. From the southpaw stance, he looked to draw Chukhadzhian forward, step off the line and answer with neat counters. There was a crispness to his work in the first half of the contest, especially when he kept the Ukrainian at the end of the jab and refused to be hurried into exchanges. Chukhadzhian, never the most spectacular fighter but a stubborn, educated one, tried to close the distance behind a high guard and make Donovan work at a pace he did not especially enjoy.

The sixth round gave Donovan the breakthrough he badly needed. Chukhadzhian pressed in and was caught by a sharp counter, the sort of punch Donovan sees quicker than most and delivers without fuss. Down went Chukhadzhian—not dramatically, but cleanly enough. Suddenly, the arithmetic of the fight tilted in Donovan’s favour. It was the kind of moment that can settle a tight eliminator, especially away from home, where judges often require something obvious before giving a visiting boxer the benefit of the doubt.

There was another knockdown in the eighth, though this one will be talked about with less certainty. Chukhadzhian went down again, but the impression at ringside was not of a decisive punch landing flush. It looked, at least in part, as though force, balance, and possibly a shove all contributed to it. The referee counted it, and that was what mattered on the cards. Boxing has never been short of grey areas, and this was one of them.

What Donovan did less well was close the show with authority. As the rounds wore on, his legs slowed, and his boxing became more static. Earlier, he had been making Chukhadzhian reach, miss and reset. Later, he was being made to stand his ground and exchange more often than was wise. Chukhadzhian, to his credit, never folded. He pushed on, worked with more urgency and forced Donovan into the sort of honest labour that can turn a comfortable-looking fight into a late argument.

For Donovan, this was still a significant win. After the two painful nights against Lewis Crocker, one ending in disqualification and the other in a split-decision defeat for the vacant IBF welterweight title, he needed more than sympathy. He needed a result. This gives him one. It also keeps alive the possibility of another crack at the IBF belt, although on this evidence, there is still work to be done before anyone starts polishing a crown.

Chukhadzhian falls to another defeat at a high level, but once again proved why he is a difficult night for any welterweight. He is awkward, durable, disciplined, and just negative enough at times to make opponents look worse than they want to. Donovan won, but he did not make him disappear. Few do.

The verdict was fair, but only just. Donovan boxed the better fight in the first half, scored the moments that mattered, and had enough left to hear his name called at the end. But it was not a performance to frighten the champions. It was a performance to get him back in the conversation. After the damage done to his career last year, this may be enough for one night.

Paddy Donovan got the result he needed, but he didn’t get the performance that makes anyone at welterweight start looking over their shoulder. He beat Karen Chukhadzhian by majority decision, and fair enough, the two knockdowns made the difference, but this was a fight that showed both sides of Donovan.

Early on, I liked what I saw. He was sharp out of that southpaw stance, nice hands, good timing, using little shifts with his feet rather than wasting movement. When Donovan lets the other man walk onto him, he can look the business. The sixth-round knockdown was the proper Donovan, seeing the gap, setting the trap, and landing clean. That is not luck; that is a fighter with a good boxing brain.

But then came the part I didn’t like. Chukhadzhian is awkward, tough and not easily impressed, but Donovan allowed him back into the fight. Instead of keeping it long, turning him, touching him with the jab and making him reset, he started standing still too much. That is where a solid, stubborn fighter like Chukhadzhian can make you look ordinary. He is not flashy, but he knows how to drag a man into uncomfortable rounds.

The second knockdown looked messy to me. It counted, so it mattered, but I wouldn’t build a case for world-class dominance around it. The cards were close because the fight was close, and anyone pretending Donovan boxed his ears off is kidding themselves.

Still, after the Crocker business, Donovan needed a win more than he needed a masterpiece. He got it. But if he wants Crocker again, or anyone holding a world belt, he cannot switch off late and admire his early work.