Tokyo 2020: Eric Donovan - Kurt Walker can knock fancied Uzbek off his stride

Uzbekistan's Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov will go into his Tokyo 2020 featherweight bout with Kurt Walker as the hot favourite, but Eric Donovan believes the Irish fighter could be ideally equipped to upset the odds in the second round.

Walker, who was the first Irish fighter in action at the Games, saw off Spain's Jose Brotons in the last 32 at the Kokugikan Arena today, prevailing on a unanimous decision.

The prospect of having to face Mirzakhalilov may be a daunting one, but Donovan anticipates a contrast of styles favouring the Lisburn pugilist.

"Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan, the reigning world champion, has had 16 fights in the last two years, compared to Kurt Walker's four fights," the RTÉ analyst said.

"He's been so, so busy. But his last fight he lost to a Mongolian in the Asian Championships.

"I watched that performance to have a look and the Mongolian fighter fought him on the inside and was moving well on the outside, and had better counterpunching skills.

"That's what Kurt Walker does and he does it brilliantly."

We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Casting his eye over the remaining member of the seven-strong Irish team, Donovan highlighted the medal chances of welterweight Aidan Walsh, featherweight Michaela Walsh and lightweight Kellie Harrington.

"Aidan Walsh has got the best draw out of everybody," O'Donovan opined.

"He has two fights to a medal. He has avoided the big guns in the weight division.

"There are still no easy fights – it's the Olympic Games – but if he can perform and focus, and get a good performance and win under his belt, then he's going to be boxing for a medal in his next fight. He has a great, great chance.

"Kellie Harrington is ranked number-one seed and there's a lot to be said for being ranked the number-one seed. She's got a great draw and you would bank on her picking up a medal."