WBA (reg) bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell, has joined the chorus of passionate British fans outraged at some of the ‘unofficial’ US scoring of his entertaining rematch bout with Tomoki Kameda last Sunday, that saw experts such as Paulie Malignaggi and ESPN’s Dan Rafael, as well as many others in North America, seemingly favouring the out-hustled and out-worked Kameda.
The official scorecards of 116-111, 115-112 and 117-110, just about told the whole story between them, as in the eyes of this writer, after giving the left-hook happy Kameda rounds 1 and 2 – which he clearly won – it was difficult to give him too much else for the rest of the fight, although while scoring is indeed subjective, and many rounds were close, it’s a stretch how anyone could possibly have had Kameda ‘comfortably’ ahead, as Paulie Malignaggi suggested he did, on twitter.
“I don’t know what fight they were watching. I honestly thought I smashed him to bits. I might have given a couple of the first four but apart from that, I wouldn’t have given him anything,” McDonnell said to Sky Sports, who broadcast the bout in the UK.
The first fight was indeed a close one that McDonnell had to rise off of the floor to win after a solid 3rd round knockdown, doing so by scores of 114-113 across the board, although on that occasion he settled to the task of establishing the jab, controlling distance and applying pressure less effectively than he did on Sunday night.
At the weekend he was the boss from round 3 onwards, with some clearer success for Kameda perhaps in round 9, so that’s 3 rounds the entire fight for the Japanese fighter. It’s a sentiment with which manager Dave Coldwell, doubling as trainer on the night, completely agrees.
The plan for McDonnell isn’t yet clear, although if he can be enticed up to 122 lbs, then big fights with another in-house Matchroom fighter in Scott Quigg, or Belfast’s Carl Frampton, could possibly await the Doncaster man.
“We’ve been talking about moving up. I just want to keep fighting in America. I’m living the dream. If (promoter) Eddie (Hearn) wants to put me on in England he can but I’m sure they want to put me on out in the States – that’s where the money is,” the Doncaster man added.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison