British Scene Weekend Recap: McDonnell Shocks Napa - Judges Shock Fans

Dave Oakes recaps this past Friday's Sky Sports show.

Jamie McDonnell claimed the British and Commonwealth bantamweight titles on Friday night after upsetting Ian Napa by a controversial split decision. Napa looked to have won the fight comfortably and can count himself very unlucky that two of the three judges had off nights.

Both fighters started the fight brightly; McDonnell was using plenty of lateral movement and trying to establish his jab, whilst Napa was looking to counter and target the body. Neither fighter gained the upper hand in an even round but McDonnell suffered a cut above his left eye after an accidental head clash.

It was clear during the second round that the fans were in for an entertaining fight; Napa’s and McDonnell’s styles were meshing together nicely. Napa started the round well; he drew McDonnell into range before sidestepping him and catching him with a glancing left hook. McDonnell was still looking to jab his way into range but was falling short a lot of the time, which was allowing Napa’s classy counterpunching to edge the round for him.

McDonnell did better in the third but it was still Napa’s round, he landed some hefty hooks to the body and was happy to stand his ground and trade with McDonnell rather than employ the slick counter-and-move tactics he’s so skilled at.

The fourth round was a big round for Napa, he was avoiding or countering everything McDonnell was throwing at him and was catching his challenger cleanly with well-timed hooks and straight rights. The straight rights resulted in a swelling under McDonnell’s right eye.

Napa was now beginning to take over the fight and was clearly looking far too experienced and skilful for the gutsy challenger to cope with. This was apparent in the fifth when Napa seemed to momentarily hurt McDonnell, first with a body shot early in the round and again towards the end of the round when he brought McDonnell’s hands down with a left hook under the ribcage before he delivered a tasty looking left hook to the head.

I noted at this stage that McDonnell would do well to go the distance, it was a point backed up by Spencer Oliver, who was a ringside analyst for Sky.

Despite suffering a bad fifth round, McDonnell came charging out in the sixth and gave everything he could possibly give to try and get himself back into the fight. Napa was landing the classier shots but seemed to be outworked in the round.

Normal service was resumed in the next round, Napa’s timing and movement was a delight to watch as he befuddled McDonnell with sharp and accurate attacks. Both fighters were going to the body, although, it was Napa’s that seemed to be having more of an effect. The best punch of the round came when Napa had his back to the ropes; he spun McDonnell beautifully before catching him with a straight right.

The eighth round was another one in Napa’s favour, he looked to be taking a breather at times but was still landing the better quality punches and finished the round strongly – a trick all good pro’s know.

McDonnell was caught flush by an overhand right in the first twenty seconds of the ninth, he took it well and fired back with shots of his own. Despite a gargantuan effort by McDonnell to up the pace, it was Napa who was still landing the better punches and his sharp counterpunching won him the round yet again.

The final three rounds saw McDonnell produce a superb show of desire, he went charging forward and threw every punch he was physically capable of throwing. Napa was looking tired and clearly lost the tenth and eleventh rounds purely because of McDonnell’s manic work-rate.

Napa rallied in a fantastic twelfth round; both fighters gave all they’d got left in the tank - McDonnell showed amazing stamina and Napa planted his feet and swung back with all his might. It was a close round and one in which I couldn’t separate the combatants.

At the final bell I thought that Napa was the clear victor by a four point margin (117-113). McDonnell had shown tremendous heart in a valiant effort but I couldn’t see any way in which he could’ve been deemed the winner. However, the judges had other ideas; Richie Davies scored the fight 115-114 in Napa’s favour, whilst Ian John-Lewis had it 115-114 in McDonnell’s favour. When the final card, by Dave Parris, was announced as 117-112, I thought that without a doubt it was going to be in Napa’s favour. I was wrong.

The 115-114 in McDonnell’s favour was highly debatable but to score the fight 117-112 for McDonnell is nothing short of scandalous. I’ve no idea whatsoever what fight Parris was watching, if he truly believes that Napa lost eight rounds of that fight then there’s no hope left for boxing.

I feel McDonnell will be a much better fighter for the experience of going twelve hard rounds with a classy operator like Napa. I also believe he’ll be a very good champion in the future, but for good of the sport, he’s got to give Napa a rematch.

On the undercard...

Cheshunt’s Ashley Sexton annihilated Usman Ahmed in a surprisingly short fight at flyweight. Most people expected the tough Ahmed to take Sexton the distance and those who picked Sexton by stoppage had him winning late on.

Ahmed tried to intimidate Sexton as the Cheshunt fighter stepped into the ring and both fighters went face-to-face in a hilarious show of masculinity. I’ve never been a fan of smacktalk or gamesmanship and I think it looks even dafter at this level of boxing. Each to their own, but it certainly didn’t do Ahmed any favours.

The end came just two minutes into the fight when Sexton landed a crushing overhand right come right hook that utterly destroyed Ahmed, his head spun around like something from a horror movie and he hit the canvas face down with such a sickening sound that it drew audible gasps from the crowd.

No count was needed and Ahmed received medical assistance straight away. Thankfully he regained consciousness after a few seconds but he still looked unsteady on his legs when he was making his way back to dressing rooms minutes later.

Sexton made a real statement with the manner of this victory and mustn’t be too far away from a British title challenge.

The much hyped George Groves looked untidy in stopping Grigor Sarohanian in the third round. Sarohanian was down twice in the second round and was out for the count in the third after a left hook under the ribs left him in a crumpled heap.

Groves, now 8-0 (6KO’s) has lots of potential but needs to iron out some fundamental defensive errors. It’s okay going back in straight lines with your chin up against the Sarohanian’s of the boxing world but it’s not a habit that will do him much good higher up the ranks.

Rising heavyweight Tom Dallas bettered the performance of fellow prospect David Price by stopping the usually durable Yavor Marinchev in the second round. Dallas controlled the fight at range and was always in charge of an opponent who knew his role was that of durable punchbag.

Marinchev was down twice in the second round from hefty right hooks to the body and was pulled out by his corner at the end of the round. Dallas is now unbeaten in nine fights and looks to be improving with every fight.

Larry Olubamiwo knocked Scott Belshaw down four times on his way to a first round stoppage victory. The first knockdown was from a clumping right hand, the following three knockdowns were from punches that barely landed. It’s a decent win for Olubamiwo but he’s never going to be anything more than a glorified pub car park fighter.

Other results: Akaash Bhatia beat Mickey Coveney on points, Martin Welsh beat Terry Fletcher on points, Tony Hill beat Alex Spitko on points, Erick Ochieng stopped Jon Harrison in the second round, Michael Maguire beat Pavels Senkovs on points, Travis Dickinson beat Hastings Rasani on points and Ben Murphy beat Lee Cook on points.

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