One of the low-key highlights of Matchroom Boxing's four-week back-garden experiment was Zelfa Barrett's thrilling victory over Eric Donovan — and the judge's scorecards — at Fight Camp 3.
Barrett (24-1, 15 KOs) was being outboxed by Donovan (12-1, 7 KOs) until he rallied with a pair of damaging knockdowns in Round 7, and a third knockdown in the eighth brought a halt to an engrossing war.
Ireland's Donovan earned a lot of new fans in his first professional loss, however, including Barrett himself.
"Lilywhite Lightning" explained in a recent interview that Manchester's Barrett, who won the vacant IBF Intercontinental super-featherweight title with the win, urged the 35-year-old not to consider calling it a day.
“To be fair to Zelfa, he came into the dressing room to me at the end, he was very respectful and mannerly,” Donovan told Off The Ball.
“He just said ‘you were boxing the head off me. I had to pull it out of the bag. Don’t give up, you're an incredible fighter and I learned a lot from you.’
“That was nice of him, to say that.”
Donovan's promising career has had its fair share of setbacks, such as the heartbreaking withdrawal from the London 2012 Olympics after a drunken fight at a house party caused him to sustain a broken hand.
He has worked hard since then to change his lifestyle and get back to winning ways — so he has no intention of letting his maiden pro loss put a stop to that.
“I am more determined now to get back in there and back on that stage because I certainly have not lost it," he said. "If anything, I have found more.
I have more in me and I can’t wait to deliver. I still believe there is a major belt in me at featherweight."