BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Paddy Donovan’s anticipated rematch with Lewis Crocker on Sept, 13 will be just the start of his march towards the pantheon of Irish fighting greats, according to his coach Andy Lee.

Donovan will get the chance to win his first world title in only his 16th fight when he faces Crocker in their immediate return at Windsor Park.

They will meet for the IBF welterweight belt recently vacated by Jaron Ennis six months on from their controversial final eliminator, when Donovan was disqualified for dropping the still undefeated Crocker with a shot after the bell to end the eighth.

As the first world title fight between two men from the island of Ireland it will be an historic occasion, but for Lee it is only the beginning of what he expects to be a meteoric rise for Donovan, 26.

“What a moment for Irish boxing,” Lee said. “Days like these don’t come around very often.

“When we started this journey together in 2019 I could see it then how far this guy Paddy Donovan could go.

“He’s got the ability to not just win this world title, but to defend it multiple times and put his name among those superstars of the division.

“I said this at the first press conference before the first fight and nobody believed me, people laughed. But this is a guy that’s going to go on and on and on through the levels of boxing and will go down as one of the best fighters in Irish history. This is just the start for him.

“This is the crowning of a new Irish world champion — there are only a handful of them from this island. You can count them on two hands and he’s going to be the next one.”

Lee is one of the others, having claimed the WBO middleweight on Dec. 13, 2014. That night he beat Matvey Korobov at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, making him the first Irish boxer to win a world title on American soil since 1934.

He is the first and only boxer from Limerick to win a world title, but now his protege Donovan, who also hails from the same city, can follow in those footsteps.

Donovan was ahead on all three cards at the time of the stoppage after outboxing Crocker for large spells and, as such, bookmakers have installed him as a hefty favourite to win the rematch and clinch the title.

But Lee is expecting a much-improved Crocker second time around. He added: “I believe it will be a lot closer this time. He will have to come with something else and try something different.

“They can’t do the same thing. You can’t prepare the same way and do the same thing and expect a different result. It’s the definition of insanity.

“We will expect anything and everything, but if he wants to be ambitious, more adventurous or aggressive then he’s going to leave holes defensively. I just believe Paddy is the better fighter and he’s got the answer.”