The dust has started to settle, ever so slightly, for Lewis Crocker after achieving a childhood dream to becoming world champion in his Paddy Donovan rematch earlier this month.

That it came in the first all-Irish world title fight, on home soil no less, made the victory even sweeter for a man many confidently picked against after the way he was being outboxed for sustained periods over eight rounds six months earlier.

Crocker was in London soaking up the acclaim and fulfilling media obligations last week, including an appearance at the Chris Eubank Jr-Conor Benn 2 press conference, and while still reminiscing on an unforgettable Belfast night, he's already being targeted by many.

Former IBF junior welterweight champion Liam Paro hopes his eye injury from a gutsy David Papot win heals fast enough for a December fight to round out 2025, as the No. 3-rated contender presses ahead seeking to be installed as Crocker's mandatory.

Eddie Hearn declared a lucrative Crocker-Benn matchup could sell out another stadium show in 2026 but the Essex man has maintained a desire to instead face WBC beltholder Mario Barrios - not the Belfast beltholder - in conversation with The Ring last week.

It's been a whirlwind turn of events for Crocker, with many preemptively suggesting he should move up to junior middleweight if Donovan (14-2, 11 KOs) did as expected and handily beat him on September 13.

His manager, Jamie Conlan, told The Ring of Crocker's quiet confidence in the build-up and how they had an ace up their sleeve paying dividends on fight night. What did he tell him?

"I said that no matter what the result, you should be proud of yourself because you were under a lot of scrutiny and pressure from the first fight - how one-sided it was - before the disqualification. He took himself away, locked in camp in Dubai for six weeks, brought his own sparring partners in and really invested in himself.

"It's mentally exhausting to fight a fight when you're not at your natural style and that was my only worry down the stretch. He'd been fighting fantastic but it's not his fight nor his pace, controlling it from the outside is good and all but risky.

"It was an exceptional performance and they really underestimated him. Paddy's a bit of a peacock - he likes the attention - Croc can't stand it so didn't play the game and that just built their egos even more, gave Donovan a false sense of security."

Donovan's head coach Andy Lee openly questioned how much Team Crocker could change in just six months during the final presser and while closely-contested, the overwhelming favourite was frozen by two knockdowns which left him second-guessing his every move.

"They didn't expect it to go that way, they thought it was the real Crocker last time and he rightfully showed them it wasn't."

Given how different the two performances were, what does Conlan attribute that to?

"A lot of factors. The food poisoning, he crashed the weight badly with a hard cut and wasn't feeling good on the morning of the weigh-in which hurt, as he then tried to rehydrate quickly and put food in the system, which didn't sit right with him.

Josh Taylor was ringside commentating for the BBC and noted Crocker looked physically lighter and moved better than their initial meeting, suggesting perhaps he had rehydrated properly and made the weight better to allow for elusive movement and less size.

When that was relayed to the champion's manager, Conlan couldn't help but smile before making tentative steps towards the future.

"That was an IBF eliminator, this was for the full title so a bit different. That experience helped, because Lewis was more focused with nutrition, said what he wanted and needed, took smoothies and no heavy meals in camps, felt a need to get bulkier first time around but this time because of the rehydration and a better weight cut, could adjust accordingly.

"Conor is the money fight obviously, but Barrios is a nice one. Look, we're in the superstar division and have the luxury of picking a voluntary. December back in the SSE [Arena], then a big superfight in April, that's the perfect plan."