"The whole idea there is I can't make my weight without being severely dehydrated. So, the whole idea is to be severely dehydrated for the least amount of time as possible and then get back up and rehydrated. I'll weigh in at 9 stone and box at 9 stone 10lbs the following night."
That was Eric Donovan speaking to Ger a week before Saturday's Celtic featherweight title fight against Wales' Dai Davies at the National Stadium.
And despite the weight cut difficulties, he came out the other side and claimed the first pro title of his career by beating Young by points decision.
Fresh from that achievement, Athy boxer Donovan joined us to talk about the fight and how he had been mindful of who faced him.
You can listen to the full chat on the podcast player or stream/download on iTunes:
"I was well aware that he had over 240 rounds in the bank during his professional career. I had only completed 12 rounds within four fights. So I was going into unknown territory," he said, adding that he was "conscious of emptying the tank" as he reached eight rounds for the first time and that "it was a great learning experience" for him as he detailed the training methods that have helped him.
At 32, Donovan has been boxing for 25 years, going up the ranks from childhood with expectations that he would reach Olympic pedigree, although it didn't quite pan out that way unfortunately.
🥊 It's a road to redemption for the new Celtic featherweight champion Eric Donovan who chatted to us tonight: https://t.co/2WAbexAgae #OTB pic.twitter.com/XShgrppeba
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 11, 2017
"The consistency wasn't there," he admitted of that period of not matching his undoubted potential.
"I was the ultimate pro in the gym but when I went away from the gym, it was always very hard to get back. You go through phases and as an amateur boxer, you try to peak for the right times of the year. You might have three or four multi-nation tournaments leading up to a big major event which could be the World, European or Olympic Games and I seemed to be peaking for the wrong ones and not being in the best physical shape when the most important ones came around and I suppose my own lifestyle would have come into play there.
"You can't put an old head on young shoulders. I suppose in one way I was a little bit too confident. Like, I told everybody I was going to go to the Olympic Games, 'watch me, I'm going to go to the Olympic Games' and I didn't go to the Olympic Games. So that broke my heart. So I'm not getting carried away now as a pro but I'll tell you what I am doing, I am very confident, not making any bold predictions but I'm just loving what I'm doing. I'm loving the journey that I'm on."
He also added: "It's kind of like a redemption. It's almost like a second opportunity."
Donovan also opened up about some of the soul-searching that he undertook at certain points like when he was 27 and lost all funding from the Sports Council.
"I left school very early, so I put my whole heart and soul into boxing and then I felt boxing was my whole identity and there really wasn't much more to me. Like, I didn't really know who Eric was or what Eric was about or what value systems did I have," he said.
"I realised I'm not the No 1, I'm not the golden boy anymore, I have no funding, I've two kids. What am I going to do?"
