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In the high point for British boxing thus far in 2013, bantamweight Jamie McDonnell beat the odds and powerful Mexican puncher Julio Ceja tonight at Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, England to capture the IBF title in thrilling fashion.
McDonnell adds world glory to a trophy cabinet that already contains European, British and Commonwealth belts while winning his thirteen consecutive bout.
The lanky Doncaster man towered over his opponent tonight and ultimately it was McDonnell’s use of reach advantage, proper distance and constant movement which allowed the 27 year old to best the younger, stronger, harder punching Ceja.
After a quiet first round, Ceja started to go to work in the second, corralling the local man and landing the left hook to the body. McDonnell was shelling up on defense, standing still and allowing Ceja to operate.
This continued through the fourth round with McDonnell landing little of consequence while getting punished with left hooks. More and more it appeared that the former European champ would go the way of countless others on Ceja’s resume.
By the fifth there was a change, as McDonnell took heart when he realized he could take Ceja’s best shots and began to stick and move, finding a home for a nice jab and lead right hand that was catching Ceja and disrupting the Nacho Beristain coached Mexican.
As the rounds wore on, McDonnell was a study in perpetual motion, constantly on the move, preventing Ceja’s previously successful attacks from being carried out while lashing the visitor with both hands and even a nice left hook to the body.
McDonnell grew in confidence to the point were he was standing and trading with Ceja and coming off better.
But by the tenth, Ceja found a way to cut off the ring and took control of the bout, strafing McDonnell with the kind of belting shots that had produced such a high KO ratio.
The pattern continued in the eleventh but McDonnell never went down or clinched and somehow found a way to weather the storm of leather he was absorbing.
In the 12th and final frame, both fighters came out with all guns blazing but it was McDonnell who was winning most of the exchanges, even hurting Ceja at one point, and shaking off a few bell-ringings himself.
When the smoke finally cleared, McDonnell won a majority decision on scorecards of 114-114, 115-113 and a rather wide 118-110, annexing the vacant IBF title and moving to 21-2-1 (9).
Ceja suffers his first professional loss, dropping to 24-1 (22), but will likely be in title contention again soon with a few more wins.
Team Ceja could make a case of referee Howard Foster allowing, albeit with repeated warnings, McDonnell liberal use of the head over the course of the contest but Foster could also have possibly taken points away from Ceja for repeatedly hitting McDonnell after the bell but did not do so.
McDonnell may keep the title for awhile as he compares favorably with top rated challengers Vusi Malinga and Tomoki Kameda.
On the undercard, bantamweight Stuart Hall, 15-2-1 (7), picked up the IBF International belt by outpointing awkward American southpaw Sergio Perales, 22-2 (14), on controversial scores of 117-111, 117-111, 115-113 that didn’t reflect the closeness of the bout, which could have been declared a draw or narrowly won by either fighter.
