It will take some time before the dust completely settles on Saturday night’s dramatic and controversial IBF welterweight title final eliminator between Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan but both parties have already begun to plot their next moves.

Donovan, 14-1 (11 KOs), had taken the hard, physical all-Irish affair by the scruff of the neck and was comfortably ahead on all three judges scorecards as the fight entered the eighth and - as it proved - final round.

Firstly, Donovan lost his second point of the contest for excessive use of the head. Then, he dropped a badly marked up Crocker, 21-0 (11 KOs), and had the Belfast man hurt and unsteady as the bell sounded to end the round.

As bedlam descended on Belfast's SSE Arena, Donovan landed a final, illegal shot and Crocker crumpled to the canvas. Having already docked the man from Limerick two points for infringements, referee, Marcus McDonnell, decided to disqualify Donovan and declare Crocker the winner.

Immediately after the fight, Donovan’s co-manager, Keith Sullivan, stated that his team had contacted the President of the IBF, Daryl Peoples, to inform him that they were appealing the disqualification and that he “hold the mandatory title match until after the rematch of Paddy and Lewis Crocker.”

Crocker’s trainer, Billy Nelson, is adamant that despite widespread calls for a return, his man will not be putting his new status as the mandatory challenger for Jaron Ennis’ IBF welterweight belt at risk and will move straight into a title fight.

Nelson believes that any appeal will fail and that McDonnell’s decision to disqualify Donovan was the correct one.

“Crocker categorically will be fighting for the world title next,” Nelson said in an interview with Louis Hart for The Ring.

“The main thing with an appeal is the IBF asking the BBBofC [British Boxing Board of Control] for their opinion on the fight and they've got to back the referee because the referee was 100% right. The appeal, I don't think in any way shape or form will get overturned and then Lewis will fight whoever he's got to fight for the world title, later in the year.”

“Maybe further down the line [there could be a rematch with Donovan] but we won that fight last night by an unsatisfactory means, but we move on to fight for the world title. Do you think we're gonna box a rematch when you've earned and are in a position to fight for the world title? Nobody will do that. You tell me who’ll do that and I'll call them a liar.”

Whilst Donovan’s team will now anxiously wait for a resolution to their appeal, Nelson and Crocker can sit back and wait to find out exactly who they will be mandated to fight for the IBF title.

On April 12th, Ennis fights WBA champion and Ring Magazine’s No.2 rated welterweight, Eimantas Stanionis, 15-0 (9 KOs), at the famous Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Nelson believes that if Ennis - who is rated at number one by Ring Magazine - accomplishes his long held goal of unifying the 147lb division, he will relinquish his title and position at the top of the welterweight standings, leaving Crocker with a shot at a vacant title.

“I think the only one we’d be likely to fight is Stanionis, if he wins,” Nelson said. “If Boots does, I’m pretty positive he'll move up to 154. The reason being, he's huge and I think he must struggle at the weight. There’s bigger fights up there for him now.”

As to the idea of a rematch with Donovan having a newly vacated IBF title as well as bragging rights at stake, Nelson referred to his IBF rulebook.

“I've got to revert back to their rules,” he said. "You can't fight for a world title coming off a loss.”