We’re good to go for tomorrow’s bantamweight title fight between WBA champion Jamie McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs) and challenger Naoya Inoue (15-0, 13 KOs). The fight will be taking place in Japan and streamed live on ESPN+, starting at 7am ET.
We’ll have live coverage of the fight right here on BLH for a morning installment of championship boxing!
Both fighters stepped on scale today and McDonnell, who stands at about 5’10, actually weighed in lighter than Inoue, 5’5”, who is moving up in weight for this fight. McDonnell officially weighed-in at 117 1⁄2 pounds while Inoue came in right at the bantamweight limit of 118lbs.
Weights from Japan:
— WBA Boxing (@WBABoxing) May 24, 2018
Jamie McDonnell 117.5 lbs
Naoya Inoue 118 lbs
WBA Bantamweight Championship #McDonnellInoue #WBAboxing
Photos: Sumio Yamada pic.twitter.com/AJdrvyz6oB
Inoue, 25, is a Japanese phenom who is expected to be a talent too much for McDonnell to handle. That said, Inoue is untested at this weight. Meanwhile McDonnell, 32, not only has the considerable height advantage but also has a 4” reach advantage that he’ll presumably attempt to use to frustrate and outbox Inoue. We’ll see how that unfolds.
Join us early tomorrow morning for all the action!