British contender Lewis Crocker and Irish fighter Paddy Donovan are set to vie for the vacant IBF welterweight title. Just days after Jaron Ennis’ IBF belt was relinquished, the two Matchroom stablemates have already reached an agreement to face each other sometime this year to set up a highly-anticipated rematch that follows up their first bout that ended in a disqualification win for Crocker.

On March 1st, Lewis Crocker (21-0, 11 KO’s) and Paddy Donovan (14-1, 11 KO’s) headlined a Matchroom card in a closely-contested welterweight (147 lbs) bout that appeared to be heading into becoming a “Fight of the Year” candidate if not for Donovan’s actions, having floored Crocker after the bell sounded following the 8th round to end up disqualifying himself ― culminating in a disqualification (DQ) win for Crocker.

Prior to this debacle, the fight to heading into Donovan’s favor who was ahead on all of the judges’ scorecards of 67-65, and 69-63 twice. The potential unanimous decision (UD) win Paddy Donovan was heading towards was despite already having two points deducted for headbutting in the 6th and 8th rounds; though notably Crocker had suffered a cut during the fight that appeared to tilt the fight in favor of Donovan after.

Now, however, there is a chance for Donovan to redeem himself not only in a rematch recently confirmed by Matchroom, but in a title bout that will result in the winner of their upcoming bout become the IBF world champion of the 147 lbs division.

Though a date and venue for the rematch have not yet been confirmed, the two fighters have apparently signed on the dotting line according to a recent press release from Matchroom which captioned a picture of Crocker and Donovan with a confirmation the vacant IBF title would be made available for their fight.

The IBF title is currently following the confirmation of Jaron Ennis’ relinquishment of the belt in lieu of his plans to move up to super welterweight (154 lbs).