Ian Napa Set For British Title Defense on January 22

By Terence Dooley

Hackney’s Ian Napa is set to defend his British bantamweight title against Doncaster’s Jamie McDonnell on January the 22nd.  Napa, who relieved Gary Davies of the title back in October, will tackle Jamie, 23, at the Brentwood Centre, Essex as he seeks to prolong his recent resurgence in form.

Napa, 31, looked done as a title force after tamely losing to Malik Bouziane on points for the EBU title back in March; however, the win over Davies saw Napa out-box and out-punch his younger, fresher opponent to take a well-deserved, majority decision victory.

Promoter Frank Maloney believes that the sky is the limit for the comeback kid.  “Ian always seems to comeback when he has suffered a defeat but he cannot afford any more if he wants to reach world level,” admitted Maloney.
 
“His European title loss against Malik Bouziane was a shock to him.  After that fight myself and Ian's trainer Brian Lawrence told him he had to put more in to succeed.  I cannot fault his application since and he proved himself once more by defeating Davies.”

Jamie is 12-2-1 (5 early); his two losses came contentiously against Chris Edwards and Lee Haskins.  The younger man is 4-0 (3) in his last four and will give Ian a stern test; Napa, though, is an exquisite boxer and should have too much nous for his challenger.  Ian has compiled a 19-7 (1 sole TKO) and has competed against the very best Britain has to offer.

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