For bantamweight champ Jamie McDonnell, providing for family remains paramount
For WBA bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell, having the title belt is simply a means to an end.
The end for McDonnell is making a comfortable living with his fistic skills. And the British boxer knows that, while boxing is very popular in the United Kingdom, the biggest money comes from fighting in the USA and becoming a world champion.
And, of course, fighting for Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions. Nobody pays like Al, his fighters will tell you.
For the second bout in a row, McDonnell, 29, is fighting under the PBC banner in his rematch against hard-punching, lightning-quick Japanese fighter Tomoki "El Mexicanito" Kameda on Sunday (PBC on CBS, 4 p.m. ET) in Corpus Christi, Texas. It's the co-feature to the main event, matching former super middleweight champion and cancer survivor Anthony Dirrell (27-1-1) against veteran Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1).
But if McDonnell-Kameda II is anything like the first meeting in May, it could be a show stealer and fight of the year candidate.
That first fight, in Hidalgo, Texas, was a tactical affair with plenty of action. Taller McDonnell (26-2-1, 12 KOs) was knocked down for the first time in his career in the third round by Kameda, who caught him with a sneaky overhand right, which the Brit said he never saw coming. But he got up and went on to win narrowly by identical 114-113 scores.
A dominating 12th round by McDonnell sealed the decision and extended his record in title fights to 4-0. "I came back strong to prove that I'm a worthy champion," McDonnell said.
He expects to better handle Kameda's right hand this time.
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"I'm tall for the weight (118 pounds), so I'm always working to defend against the right hand. Kameda, he just landed it and I didn't see it," McDonnell told Paste BN by phone this week. "So we've been working on it, but I throw some good punches myself and we've been working on that."
McDonnell's victory was his 18th in a row since his last defeat in 2008. It also was the first time he fought outside of Europe. He loved coming to the USA, and Texas in particular.
This time, he came to Corpus Christi, up the coast from Hidalgo, earlier - two weeks before the fight, bringing along his wife and daughter, and twin brother Gavin, also a boxer. He says it will better acclimate him to the searing heat and humidity of coastal Texas.
"I really enjoyed coming over here," he said. "I don't feel as much pressure fighting over here. If I get the win Sunday, I'd like to fight some more great champions in the States."
Kameda (31-1, 19 KOs), whose nickname translates to "The Little Mexican" because he moved from Japan to Mexico when he was 15 and learned how to fight in the Mexican style, doesn't see McDonnell returning to the U.K. with his title belt. He said he won't leave it in the judges' hands this time.
"I definitely think I won the first fight," said Kameda, 24. "I landed the harder punches and built up enough of an early lead, but the judges saw what they saw. It was a close fight, and I know I can change the outcome this time."
McDonnell has no intention of giving up his belt. Not because of the prestige of having the belt, but what it can bring in terms of money. It's a business, plain and simple. His trainer-manager, Dave Coldwell, makes that distinction quite clear.
"Jamie is not in love with the sport. He's in love with the fact that he can fight and it makes him money," Coldwell told Bleacher Report recently. "Everyone is driven by something. His passion is earning money for his family. He's driven to do that."
McDonnell said the belts mean everything, until they don't. This could be his last fight at bantamweight before he moves up to super bantamweight. He has targeted unbeaten British counterpart Scott Quigg, who owns the WBA belt at 122 pounds.
"Once you make a name for yourself, you don't need the belts. But on the way up you need the belts to get the big fights and the big money," McDonnell said. "I have a wife, and we want to have the best life possible, so I need these belts.
"I need to keep winning these belts to give me a better life, you know?"