Donnelly hopes to draw inspiration from hero Khan

Steven Donnelly pictured with one of his boxing heroes Amir Khan at the Commonwealth Games.

The Ballymena boxer bumped into former Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan in Glasgow and was able to share the Bolton boxer’s experiences of competing in major amateur events.

“He’s my favourite boxer, who I always try to box like,” said Steven, who is already assured of at least a bronze medal after his quarter-final defeat of Canadian Custio Clayton.

“He was a high-quality opponent. He was world number eight so my confidence has definitely gone up,”

“He was the favourite and I was treating that as my final, but that doesn’t mean that the rest will be easy.

“Friday will be another tough fight against a tricky Indian opponent, Mandeep Jangra.

“The support I have had both in Glasgow and from people back home has been brilliant and I appreciate it all.

Victory tonight would take Donnelly into Saturday’s welterweight final with the gold medal at stake.

Tonight’s semi-final is scheduled to take place at the SECC around 8.30pm.