By Oli Smith
On a cold and damp Friday evening at the Brentwood Centre in Brentwood, Essex; Ian Napa looked to lift the spirits of the crowd with a win over rising prospect Jamie McDonnell and go onto European glory in March. However, no one wanted to stick to the script. McDonnell 12-2-1 (5KO) has bounced around between Super Flyweight and as high as Featherweight before making a run at Napa’s British Bantamweight title. Points loses early in his career to Chris Edwards for the British Super Flyweight title and Lee Haskins speak volumes about the level McDonnell strives towards, though as of Friday, he had yet to win any of his biggest fights.
Napa on the other hand seemed supremely confident of victory; a March show down with Jerome Arnould seemed set for the vacant European Bantamweight title, picking up where he left off against Malik Bouziane, in a very flat performance last year. At 31 years of age, Napa needed to prove tonight that he truly is on the ascendancy, but with one knockout from 19 wins against seven losses, he is always one bad decision away from undoing all his hard work.
The first few rounds started slowly with both men finding their range, McDonnell looked to impose his seven inch height advantage and considerable reach, but even during the early rounds, he found it hard to hit the elusive target. Napa kept cool under pressure waiting until McDonnell made mistakes and capitalised on them with stinging over hand rights and compact hooks to the body.
By round three McDonnell seemed to be out of ideas, though never gave up on his game plan. He stuck to basics, popped his jab out, though it was rarely effective and put as much pressure on the experienced slickster as he could. Meanwhile Napa began adding to his points tally. Forcing McDonnell to give away his height to engage, Napa skilfully dissected the challenger, setting traps and working the body before moving upstairs.
By the fifth round it had seemed as though the scores were about level, a clash of heads had opened a cut on McDonnell’s eye very early in the fight and by now his right eye was beginning to swell too. As the challengers face became more disfigured, the champion began to gain confidence and stepped on the gas. Which isn’t to say that McDonnell was going to get steamrollered, far from it, instead Napa turned McDonnell’s ineffective aggression against him, when the youngster came forward in straight lines with a barrage of shots, Napa slipped them and dug in a few of his own, he hit without being hit. Ultimately he made McDonnell look inexperienced.
Napa seemed to take the sixth round off which allowed McDonnell to get some confidence back in his work. Napa only needed to be a little flat footed and to come forward in straight lines for McDonnell to begin to pick him off. The seventh saw Napa pick up business as usual in deflecting most of the incoming, this time he seemed to plant his feet and put some venom into his punches attempting to slow McDonnell down, who, though largely ineffective, could not be faulted for work rate.
In the eighth and ninth rounds Napa uncharacteristically took charge at the centre of the ring, perhaps concerned that McDonnell’s work rate could sway the judges, he turned aggressor and pushed to keep charge of his territory. As the fight entered the championship rounds, thoughts that McDonnell may gas himself out were put to rest as he relentlessly fought on, building up momentum in the crucial final rounds of boxing.
The twelfth round could well be one of the finest we will see all year as both men went toe to toe and slugged it out, the pace finally seemed to unsettle Napa who could no longer slip the massive amount of incoming shots effectively, he had no choice but to fire back. McDonnell was finally being rewarded for his tenacity.
As the final bell rang out, both men put their arms in the air and waited for the result. A split decision was called and the scores were read out. 115-114 in favour of Napa, 115-114 and an obscene 117-112 in favour of McDonnell who takes the British Bantamweight title back home to Doncaster.
It was a strange decision, especially Richard Davies score card giving McDonnell some five rounds over Napa. However, this is the tightrope Napa has had to walk his entire career, without any kind of knockout power; he is always reliant on the judges making the correct decisions. In this case he came off worse against someone who could match his work rate and always look busy, without necessarily being busy. Neither man gave a bad account of themselves tonight, though McDonnell still has a lot to learn before jumping to European level, as he indicated his desire to replace Napa and take on Jerome Arnould in the post fight interview. Whilst his work rate and stamina are without doubt his best assets, he showed a worrying inability to adapt, solve problems or find another gear tonight. How much this has to do with Ian Napa being just about the most awkward fighter in British boxing, and how much it is to do with inexperience remains to be seen.
Ultimately it is these three assets; adaptation, problem solving and the ability to find another gear that separates the domestic class from the World champions. Ivan Calderon has proved you don’t need to be able to knock people dead to keep winning, David Haye has shown that you don’t need an iron chin to reach the top, and Edwin Valero proves you don’t have to be the greatest technician to be prolific. Ian Napa was once touted for World honours; right now that seems like a very long time ago. All isn’t lost for him, he certainly has plenty left in the tank, he just needs to show that little bit extra to get back on track...and a little bit of luck wouldn’t go amiss either.