Jamie McDonnell had a lot of size on Naoya Inoue, but it wasn’t even a contest. Inoue ripped through McDonnell in less than a round to claim the WBA “world” bantamweight title.
McDonnell (29-3-1, 13 KO) was no match for the Japanese star in Tokyo, as he was wobbled on a left hook to the top of the head and put down on a body shot early in the fight. McDonnell got back to his feet, but Inoue (16-0, 14 KO) followed with a flurry against the ropes, dropping McDonnell a second time and finishing the fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 1:52 of the first round.
Inoue, 25, can now be called a three-division champion after previously winning titles at flyweight and super flyweight. He said before this fight that if he beat McDonnell, he was hoping to join the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament starting later this year.
McDonnell, 32, has had a nice run at bantamweight, but this is clearly a crushing defeat, though it comes against a special fighter. He was just completely overwhelmed by the aggressive attack of Inoue and never had a chance.
In the co-feature, Ken Shiro improved to 13-0 (7 KO) with a decisive second round knockout of Ganigan Lopez (34-8, 19 KO), retaining the WBC junior flyweight title with the victory. The fight was mostly jabbing for the better part of the time it was on, but a right hand to the body put the veteran Lopez, 36, on the canvas and down for the count.
It was a rematch between the two, as Ken Shiro, 26, beat Lopez for the belt in May 2017 via majority decision. This time around, he made a much bigger statement.