Monster's Ball

Predatory Inoue makes short work of McDonnell in emphatic statement

- Rishad Marquardt

THE brilliant “Monster” Naoya Inoue of Japan savaged Doncaster’s Jamie McDonnell at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo inside three minutes to claim the secondary WBA bantamweight belt. To be clear, Ryan Burnett holds the only WBA 118lbs title which should be recognised as a genuine championship, but Inoue may now be the best of them all.

His superiority was the clear from the moment he landed his first punch, a looping left hand sent the Englishman backwards before a sapping blow to the body put him down. Up at eight, McDonnell was quickly under fire again, and as he tumbled down, senses scrambled, referee Luis Pabon made exactly the right call to end the bout at 1-52.

Inoue said afterwards he will join the exceptionally appealing World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament alongside Burnett, Zolani Tete and Emmanuel Rodriguez who were already confirmed.

For 32-year-old McDonnell, who looked gaunt and drawn at the weigh-in before putting on a reported 26 pounds ahead of the fight, he has no option but to rise in weight, with featherweight mentioned as the destination. Whether he should have gone ahead with this bout is up for debate because at no point during Fight

Week did he look like a man who believed in himself.