A world title opportunity awaits the winner of next week's all-Irish dust-up between Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan at the SSE Arena, but it will be far from the end of the world for the vanquished, according to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn.

Belfast's Crocker and Limerick's Donovan put their perfect records on the line with plenty of pride at stake, but the prize of a shot at the IBF welterweight title - currently in possession of Jaron 'Boots' Ennis who meets Eimantas Stanionis in an April unification - is the main carrot dangling in front of them.

Both men can be considered right in their prime and with opinions split down the middle as to how this would go, demand for tickets has been phenomenal.

Victory will taste sweet for which of the two comes through and while defeat may be considered a major blow to world title aspirations, Hearn doesn't see it that way.

"Donovan-Crocker is just a pure 50-50," hearn stressed.

"Like, you've got a big strong welterweight against a fantastic pure boxer-mover, a puncher as well. It's an obvious fight to make and we got it made. 

"These guys are world-level. So, one's gonna move on and fight for a world title and, you know, 'Boots' (Ennis) is very good, but if that title becomes vacant, the winner of this fight could well go on and become a world champion. And then the other one's gonna probably have one fight against a top-15 opponent and then hopefully challenge for a world title. It doesn't really matter (for the loser). 

"It's Belfast against Limerick, it's a lively crowd, it's just perfect." 

This fight has been framed as a clash between the relentless, power punching of Crocker against the slick skills of Donovan, but both men have more strings to their bow as the Belfast man was considered a top prospect as an amateur and 'The Real Deal' has 11 stoppages in his 14 wins. 

Fine margins are likely to decide the outcome and Hearn feels it may come down to which of the pair has the better engine.

"I think that maybe Crocker goes in the slight favorite but I think when Paddy gets it right, he's very difficult to beat," he predicts.

"And I think Lewis got hit a lot against Conah Walker but I don't think he really respected his power. I thought, frankly, he just thought he could just walk him down. I don't think he thinks he can do that with Paddy.

"Paddy punches sharper and harder than people think when he's on. He kind of makes you miss and 'Bang!' But if Lewis makes the pace hot, can he get to him down the home strait? 

"Like, in Paddy's fight in Belfast (January), we did see him unravelling a little bit, but he wasn't fit. So, I think conditioning is gonna be key in this."