Boxing

Teddy Atlas' Blunt Verdict On 'Dubious' Paddy Donovan DQ Controversy Says It All

The legendary Teddy Atlas made his opinion of Saturday's controversial Paddy Donovan DQ extremely clear.
Grant Young|
IBF Welterweight Final Eliminator; Lewis Crocker versus Paddy Donovan on March 1, 2025.
IBF Welterweight Final Eliminator; Lewis Crocker versus Paddy Donovan on March 1, 2025. | IMAGO / Action Plus

March 1 was a controversial night in the boxing world.

The evening's most polarizing moment came in the ninth round of the Gervonta 'Tank' Davis vs. Lamont Roach Jr. fight for Davis' WBA lightweight championship belt, when Davis took a knee that wasn't ruled a knockdown.

Referee Steve Miller's questionable decision to not deduct a point from Davis ultimately allowed the champion to escape with a majority draw rather than a split decision loss, which many believe meant Roach Jr. was robbed of an upset victory.

But that wasn't the night's only polarizing referee decision. At the end of the eighth round in the IBF welterweight world title eliminator bout between Paddy "The Real Deal" Donovan and Lewis Crocker, Donovan cracked Crocker with a blasting punch that sent Crocker to the ground. But the problem was that the punch was clearly after the bell.

Many who saw the late punch believe that the referee Marcus McDonnell should have stepped in much sooner to prevent it, considering that the arena was so loud that Donovan likely couldn't hear the bell.

McDonnell ultimately decided to disqualify Donovan — who was winning decidedly on all three judges' scorecards — from the fight, resulting in "The Real Deal" receiving his first professional loss and an opportunity to fight for the IBF welterweight belt.

If there's one person who has seen it all in the boxing ring, it's the legendary trainer-turned-analyst Teddy Atlas. And in the wake of this Donovan DQ controversy, Atlas wrote on X, "Punch was after bell, & hard for either fighter to hear. But referee looked to be on Crockers side all night. Dubious! 🤔🥊".

Atlas calling this disqualification "dubious" speaks volumes, and is not a good look for the outcome of this Donovan vs. Crocker fight.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.