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Jamie McDonnell put on a strong display today in an entertaining bout with Thailand's Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat, claiming a second world title (of sorts) with a 10th round stoppage on a cracking left hand that put the underdog down, and forced referee Terry O'Connor to stop the bout.
McDonnell (24-3-1, 11 KO) had to work for the win today, but did mostly have his way over the course of the fight, as he was taller, longer, and just better than Tabtimdaeng (52-3, 34 KO), who was game but a bit overmatched, which was the expectation most had going in.
The victory gives the 28-year-old from Doncaster the WBA "regular" bantamweight title, a useless belt that has no reason to exist, as Anselmo Moreno is active and defending as the WBA's "super" champion, but then we go over this every time. The WBA also had "regular" and "super" titles on the line earlier in Macau in the same weight class, on the same show.
The one more forgivable aspect of this case is that McDonnell was jobbed out of the IBF belt last year, after winning the vacant belt over Julio Ceja. He never got to defend that title before he was stripped, so it's hard to not feel good for McDonnell on the levels that have nothing to do with boxing's absurdities.