With a shot at the IBF welterweight title at stake, Donovan defeated Chukhadzhyan by majority decision in front of a sparse crowd at SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. The Irish southpaw did his best work early, then relied on two knockdowns and enough banked rounds to get past a late push from the Ukrainian veteran.
This was the kind of fight that tends to split opinion, and American boxing fans will probably debate the second knockdown most of all. Chukhadzhyan went down in the eighth in a sequence that looked as much like a loss of balance as clean damage, but referee Diana Drews Milani ruled it a knockdown and began the count. In a fight without much margin, that call loomed large.
Donovan had already put Chukhadzhyan on the canvas in the sixth with a short left hand upstairs, though Chukhadzhyan recovered quickly and never looked badly hurt. From there, the fight turned into a style battle: Donovan sharper in the first half, Chukhadzhyan steadier and more active down the stretch. That late rally was enough to earn one even card, but not enough to erase the deficit on the other two.
After the decision, Donovan praised Chukhadzhyan and immediately turned his attention to Lewis Crocker, calling for a trilogy bout. The win was a significant reset for Donovan, who had dropped two straight to Crocker and badly needed a result that restored momentum.
For the division, this result keeps Donovan relevant in a crowded welterweight race where contenders are trying to separate from the pack. For Chukhadzhyan, the loss reinforces a familiar narrative: skilled, disciplined, difficult to handle, but still short of the breakthrough win that changes his career. Donovan now has leverage again, and with Crocker set to defend the IBF title against Liam Paro on June 24 in Australia, the next move in this corner of the division suddenly has real stakes.