Kildare's Eric Donovan dominates Spanish opponent to retain Celtic title in Dublin

Kildare boxer Eric Donovan continued his rise up the professional rankings on Saturday night by comprehensively dispatching Spaniard Juan Luis Gonzalez in a bout that went the full distance of eight rounds.

The Athy man was never in any trouble during the fight, easily preserving his unbeaten record as he moved to 6-0 with a straightforward 80-72 win on the judges' scorecards, defending the Celtic BUI Featherweight title he won in September.

It brings to an end a fine year for Donovan who will turn his attentions to grander ambitions in 2018, stating that he wants a European title fight within the next 18 months.

Both boxers sized each other up during the first stanza, though Donovan managed to land a couple of tidy combinations without doing significant damage. Gonzalez came out more aggressively for the second, but Donovan's sharp footwork kept him out of any major trouble. Towards the end of the round the Athy man began to exert more pressure, striking his opponent with a sweet left hook to the head before shaking the Spaniard with a left to the stomach and another jab to the head later in the round.

Gonzalez was slightly more subdued in the third, and once again Donovan owned the latter stages, with one particular right to the head knocking his opponent backwards.

Donovan focused on the body of the 38-year-old Gijon native during the fourth, though his best work came in the form of a stinging left jab after leading in with the right. Any notion that Gonzalez was tiring was soon put to bed in the fifth round as he matched the Kildare man, even placing a couple of good shots onto the chin of Donovan.

As the fight entered the sixth round it was clear that Donovan was the fighter of the pair, but Gonzalez was well capable of answering back with swings every time Donovan went in with flurries of punches. The Lilywhite Lightning made real progress with some neat combinations to the body of the Spaniard throughout the sixth and seventh rounds, and he was in cruise control by the time the fight ticked into the eighth and final round.

Gonzalez went on the offensive in a last ditch bid to knock Donovan out, but the former Irish amateur champion evaded any trouble with pure composure, and his opponent was out of gas by the midway point.