Paddy Donovan continued his rapid rise as a professional as he pounded Siar Ozgul to defeat on the MTK Global show at Bolton.

The 22-year-old Irish southpaw was too slick, too powerful and too big for Ozgul, who was pulled out by his corner at the end of the fourth round.

Ozgul, a London-based Turkish boxer, had lost five of his previous six but had boxed in high class, having gone the distance with Viktor Posto, Anthony Yigit and Sean McComb. 

But Donovan towered over him and whipped in body punches from the start, ensuring Ozgul was in for a painful evening. 

Donovan had plenty of success with a lead uppercut against the shorter man, as he drew him onto power punches. Donovan, who is trained by Andy Lee, stepped things up in the fourth, hurting Ozgul with a left hook, making a mess of his nose and was teeing off on him at the end of the round before he was pulled out.

“He was tough and strong, he brought a good challenge, but my skill and my brain overcame that challenge,” Donovan said. 

“I’ve did a lot of training with my Dad, but after these restrictions are over and we can travel, me and Andy will be back together and training hard preparing for bigger and better fights. We have a big year ahead.  We’re trying to get to 10-0 and a shot at a youth world title.”

Mark McKeown took a round to find his range and then took out Brad Daws in impressive style in the second round of their featherweight six-rounder. 

Daws had done well in the first round, often beating McKeown to the punch, but, early in the second round, the Scotsman landed two jabs and then an excellent right over the top of Daws’s guard that saw him crumble to the floor. 

He beat the count but was soon under pressure and two more rights sent him down to his knees again, referee Steve Gray waving the fight off at 0:48 if round two.

Elliott Whale improved to 4-0 as a professional as he ended the run of upsets by Jamie Stewart in their welterweight six-rounder.

Stewart had drawn his previous fight with Florian Marku and had previously beaten Michael Hennessy Jr, but he didn’t really make a dent in Whale, whp controlled the action.

Whale, a tall southpaw, kept things simple, forcing Stewart back from the opening bell, It was not until the fourth round that he really upped the pace, loading up on shots and walking the tring Stewart into punches. He was unable to force the stoppage, though. Referee Howard Foster scored it 59-55.

Irish super-bantamweight Pierce O’Leary kept his winning streak going as he won a wide points decision over Irvin Magno, It was credit to Magno’s chin and heart that it went the distance. For the first three rounds it was competitive, but O’Leary opened up in the fourth and it got very one-sided. Magno refused to go down, though, and lost a 59-55 decision on referee Gray’s card.

Mohammed Sameer claimed his second win as a professional as he was given a solid workout by Kearon Thomas in a middleweight four-rounder that opened the show.

Referee Gray scored it 40-36.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.