World Weekend Roundup: McDonnell, Braehmer, Dirrell, Warrington Win

It was a very one-sided weekend across the globe with four world titles on the line and only one of those was a test for the defensing champion.

We kick things off at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, USA where WBA champion Jamie McDonnell bid farewell to the bantamweight division with a dominant display in a hotly anticipated rematch on Sunday afternoon.

England’s McDonnell, 27-2-1 (12), faced down Japan’s Tomoki Kameda, 31-2 (19), for the second straight occasion as the rangy Doncaster man won a 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 UD after 12 rounds.

Kameda had two good rounds where his fast counter punches caught McDonnell flush at times but once the champion began to push the Tokyo resident back behind a long jab in the third round, it was all down hill from there.

Aside from a good ninth round, the challenger could achieve nothing more than sporadic success against the relentless McDonnell, who cemented his control with a 12th round knockdown.

Before the contest, McDonnell had reportedly expressed a desire to challenge WBA super bantam champ Scott Quigg, in what would be a massive domestic clash in the north of England, most likely at the cavernous Manchester Arena.

There was more bad news for the Kameda family as Tomoki’s brother Daiki Kameda, 29-5 (18), was defeated via eight round split decision at super bantam by Mexican southpaw Victor Ruiz, 20-5 (14), despite Kameda outweighing his adversary 120 pounds to 116.75.

Also on the bill, ex-WBC super middle champ Anthony Dirrell, 28-1-1 (22), handled former middleweight world title challenger Marco Antonio Rubio, 59-8-1 (51), over ten rounds to post 100-90 UD after 10 rounds.

Both fighters were coming off major losses while Rubio was also making a jump up in weight. That combination, along with Dirrell’s sharper skills and faster hands, proved to be too much for the Mexican veteran to overcome.

Dirrell started off targeting Rubio’s midsection before moving his focus upstairs and despite receiving repeated full, flush punches to both areas, Rubio showed amazing heart and durability, especially for a fighter previously stopped four times.

By the sixth round, Rubio began to mount a more cohesive offense and landed a few good punches on Dirrell, who afterward became a bit more careful, but for most of the bout, the Mexican just didn’t know how to attack the American.

Dirrell used angles well on both offense and defense and mostly looked good while cruising to a well deserved wide points victory.

On Saturday, the main focus was at Energie Verbund Arena in Dresden, Germany where WBA light heavy champ Juergen Braehmer, 47-2 (35), convinced challenger Konni Konrad, 22-2-1 (11), to choose not to come out for the eighth round.

Konrad gave a good account of himself early on, handling the southpaw champ’s explosive lead left hand efforts and getting off a few good punches himself at times despite being rocked on occasion.

But when Braehmer made a committed effort to take the fight to Konrad in the fifth frame, things began to get difficult for the challenger. Each time Konrad absorbed heavy shots he fired off salvos in retaliation and caught Braehmer by surprise several times but the shorter, less experienced boxer was in definite trouble in the seventh after having been dropped in the sixth frame.

There were two big Women’s boxing events in Mexico on Saturday with WBC light fly boss Ibeth Zamora Silva, 24-5 (9), defeating former titlist Esmerelda Moreno, 31-8-1 (10), in the third contest between them.

It was a very competitive and close bout but after 10 rounds, Silva came away with a 97-93, 97-94, 96-94 verdict at Centro de Espectaculos in Metepec.

At Grand Teatro Moliere in Polanco, WBA minimumweight ruler Anabel Ortiz, 18-0 (3), was ahead on all the cards 59-55 when challenger Sandra Robles, 11-2 (5), could not continue due to injury, resulting in a six rund technical decision victory for Ortiz.

There was a featherweight clash with possible world level implications at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England as big ticket seller Josh Warrington, 22-0 (4), dampened the ambitions of Joe Brunker, 28-2 (16), for the Commonwealth and WBC International belts.

Australia’s Brunker, who had been stopped by future IBF champ Lee Selby last year in the UK, marched forward relentlessly and had some success early as the less experienced Warrington was learning how to deal with the pressure.

But once the local man figured out the timing of Brunker’s attacks, he put on a great all-around performance, taming the visitor with a combination of superb movement and defense punctuated with searing combinations that snapped back the head of his rival.

Warrington put on a display, pounding Brunker, who showed much fortitude in never wavering from his aims until the end of the contest, which Warrington won on scores of 120-108 on all three cards.

After a few more fights against an increasing level of competition, Warrington could be ready for a world title shot in 2016 with a challenge to Selby being the logical selection.