McDonnell-Sanchez Title Eliminator Added To Quigg-Frampton

By Jake Donovan

Gavin McDonnell vowed that 2016 would be the year where he joins his twin brother Jamie on the world title stage. He now has the chance to move one step closer later this month, as he enters a title eliminator with Jorge Sanchez in battle of unbeaten super bantamweights.

The bout will take place on February 27 in front of a sold-out crowd at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Headlining the bill is a highly anticipated super bantamweight title unification clash between Scott Quigg and Carl Frampton.

“I feel that I have come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so,” said McDonnell (14-0-2, 4KOs). “I’ve gone under the radar a bit so landing this crucial fight on such a massive event like Frampton vs. Quigg is going to make people stand up and take notice of me, and I’m going to put in a performance that fans will remember.”

The winner will become the mandatory challenger for whoever comes out on top in the title fight rematch between reigning champ Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz, which fittingly takes place a few hours later stateside in Anaheim, California.

Interestingly, a repeat win by Ceja could put him in position to serve as a significant part of the McDonnell brothers’ road to world titles. The free-swinging slugger from Mexico was outpointed by Jamie in their vacant title fight in May ’13.

While Jamie was later stripped of that belt, he went on to collect another. A May ’14 title win over Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat ignited his second reign, having made three defenses including back-to-back victories over previously unbeaten Tomoki Kameda in 2015.

As the reigning bantamweight titlist prepares for his next adventure, he gets to sit back for the moment and watch his twin brother in the biggest fight of his own career.

“It’s amazing to see how far Gavin has come in the last two years,” said Jamie McDonnell. “From winning Area and English titles, the target was set at British honors. Once that was achieved, a dream European opportunity was landed – he won the title in style against Yegerov.

“Now we have the World title in our sights, a huge fight for Gavin against the tough and undefeated Sanchez, to put himself in a position to challenge Julio Ceja.”

That said, there’s no guarantee of a victory later this month. Like McDonnell, Sanchez (15-0, 9KOs) comes in as unbeaten contender with title aspirations. The 25-year old from Panama fought just once in 2015, a decision win at home where he has exclusively fought through five years as a pro.

“I’m more than ready to prove that I can become a World champion,” said Gavin McDonnell, who is coming off of a 12-round win over Jeremy Parodi last October. “I know that Sanchez is going to be a tough fight and I will have to be at my best, but that’s what I am in the sport for – fighting the best and winning titles.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox