By: Ste Rowen
Japanese phenomenon, Naoya Inoue lit up the Ota-City General Gym and put the bantamweight division on notice by stopping WBA ‘Regular’ champion, Jamie Mcdonnell in the 1st round.
The bout started off fairly tentatively as McDonnell looked the busier boxer, whilst Inoue bided his time before striking. Then half way through the round, Inoue landed a left hook which sent McDonnell shaking and ‘The Monster’ smelt blood. He followed the hook with another sharp left hand to the body which dropped his English opponent and signalled the beginning of the end.
The former IBF champion rose, but Inoue charged in, landing a barrage of power shots in quick succession and forcing the referee to call an end to the fight with just over a minute left in the 1st round.
McDonnell was expected to move up before today’s fight was announced, and after such a devastating defeat for the former British and European champion, it seems even more likely that he’ll make the jump to 122lb. That’s if he chooses to continue to fight.
Naoya though, now 16-0 (14KOs) will move onto the upcoming 118lb World Boxing Super Series, a tournament that already includes WBA ‘Super’ champion, Ryan Burnett, IBF holder, Emmanuel Rodriguez and WBO titlist, Zolani Tete.
Quickfire Undercard Report…
Ken Shiro wasted hardly any time in defending his WBC light flyweight belt, knocking out the former holder of the same strap, Ganigan Lopez of Mexico with a brutal body shot, in a rematch of their championship bout in May last year when Shiro, now 13-0 (7KOs) earned a majority decision.
Brother of Naoya Inoue, Takuma moved to 11-0 (3KOs) after knocking out Indonesian, Waldo Sabu in the 1st round.
Super featherweight, Tsuyoshi Tameda, now 17-3-2 (15KOs) stretched his knockout streak to four after taking just three rounds to stop Rivo ‘El Matador’ Rengkung.
In their respective professional debuts super flyweight, Taku Kuwahara and super featherweight, Ryuya Goto both scored 1st round stoppages.