Lewis Crocker stops Jose Felix, stays undefeated: Highlights

Lewis Crocker stayed unbeaten with a fifth round TKO win over Jose Felix today at Ulster Hall in Belfast.

Crocker (19-0, 11 KO) had dropped Felix in the fourth round before dropping him again in the fifth. Felix (40-7-1, 31 KO) had also been penalized a point in round three for low blows.

Crocker missed weight for the fight, coming in at 150 lbs for the 147 lb matchup, but the fight went ahead as it generally does, and he got the win he was favored to get.

Crocker, 27, could buckle down and stay at 147 — sometimes weight cuts just go sideways — or he could move up to 154, potentially, if he feels he’s simply out-grown the division.

Felix, 31, gave a good effort here and came to fight, but Crocker was just too big for him. Felix is really a 135/140 lb fighter by trade in the first place, and was signed up as the opponent here because he’d gotten a big upset win over Gary Cully last May in Dublin. Matchroom saw an opportunity to give him another fight, and use his momentum to “feed” another house fighter in Belfast, and it worked.

Mostly, Felix seemed like he couldn’t really trouble Crocker with his power, but when Crocker let his hands go, it was clear he could hurt Felix, and then he did the big damage. It was really that simple.

Undercard highlights and results

• Cheavon Clarke TKO-4 Tommy McCarthy (1:28): Clarke goes to 8-0 (6 KO), starting fast and finishing strong. McCarthy really tried to hang in there, but he was being worn down even in his better moments, and Clarke is just the far fresher fighter, even though both men are 33. Tommy’s been through it in recent years and has had some tough fights. A nice step forward for Clarke and a good win at level as he looks to become a real cruiserweight contender.

• Paddy Donovan TKO-7 William Andres Herrera (1:44): Donovan did have to work here, and had a bit of adversity from the Argentine road fighter, but he got the job done with two knockdowns and then a stoppage call from the referee, which I guess was maybe a bit early but also maybe not. There was some speculation that he’d hurt his ankle or foot, but he and trainer Andy Lee thought it was more just that he had a quick turnaround, only a few weeks of preparation, and Paddy also said he’d been sick over the Christmas holiday, and so on and so forth. But he moves on unbeaten, and he showed some grit, too.

• Conah Walker TKO-3 Lloyd Germain (1:33)

• Giorgio Visioli TKO-2 Samuel Pikire (1:34)