By Ian S Palmer
WBA Bantamweight Champion Jamie McDonnell of Britain will be slugging it out with former WBO champ Tomoki Kameda of Japan this Sunday, September 6th at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The two met each other back on May 9th with McDonnell picking himself up off the canvas in the third round to win a very close decision by scores of 114-113 on all three judges’ scorecards. This 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on CBS on Sunday afternoon while fans in Britain can catch the action on Sky Sports. This is another installment of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series.
Kameda, a 24-year-old native of Osaka, will climb through the ring ropes with a mark of 31-1 along with 19 Kos while the 29-year-old McDonnell of Doncaster, England is 26-2-1 with 12 Kos to his name. The Englishman is a former IBF titleholder and hasn’t lost since 2008. He has won 18 straight fights and captured the WBA championship after beating Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat. He’s defended that crown against Javier Nicolas Chacon and Kameda. Kameda suffered his one and only loss against McDonnell in May and is determined to avenge it and take back his title.
McDonnell likes to throw punches in bunches and doesn’t really possess much in the way of knockout power. Kameda on the other hand, can box and also has pretty good power on his punches. Kameda will be the slight favourite going into the fight even though he lost their first meeting. However, he may want to be more aggressive this time around and go after his opponent if he has him hurt. The first meeting was quite entertaining and McDonnell proved that he’s a worthy champion and a fan-friendly boxer.
Kameda turned pro in 2008 and has boxed 212 rounds since then. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall and has a 66-inch reach. McDonnell turned pro back in 2005 and has boxed 209 rounds up to now. He has a slight one-inch edge in height as he’s 5-feet-10-inches with a 72-inch reach. This gives McDonnell a distinct height and reach advantage and he used it to good effect back in May. McDonnell is a former British and Commonwealth champion and owns one of the sport’s longest winning undefeated streaks at the moment. He lost his first fight by 12-round split decision to Chris Edwards back in December of 2007 and then lost his next outing four months later when Lee Haskins beat him on points over eight rounds. That fight in March of 2008 was his last defeat.
Prediction
Fans are hoping for another exciting bout here and there’s no reason to believe they won’t get one. McDonnell will try to make it two wins in a row over Kameda by using the same tactics in the first fight. It’s up to Kameda to alter his style this time around and if he can’t do it he’ll suddenly find his career in a bit of a tailspin. This fight should live up to his billing and it’s a tough one to call. But I’d expect Kameda to even things up here with a decision or late stoppage.
