McDonnell lands home advantage for mandatory Euro defence

Jamie McDonnell’s mandatory European bantamweight title defence against former champion Malik Bouziane will be staged in England after promoter Frank Maloney submitted the winning purse bid today. The date and venue is yet to be determined. Doncaster’s McDonnell has enjoyed a fabulous 2010 thus far and has been deservedly shortlisted to be Britain’s Young Boxer of the Year by the British Boxing Board of Control after becoming a triple titleholder.

In January, the 24-year-old captured the British and Commonwealth titles by beating Ian Napa on a split decision and added the vacant European crown to his mantelpiece eight weeks later with a superb tenth round stoppage of Jerome Arnould in France. Jamie went on to make a successful first defence of his European title in front of his home fans at the Doncaster Dome, easily dismissing Italy’s outgunned Rodrigo Bracco in round three in July.

Bouziane looks likely to provide McDonnell with a far sterner test in his second defence. The Frenchman deservedly dethroned Ian Napa to seize the European title with a wide unanimous points victory on his previous visit to Britain in March 2009. In contrast, many felt McDonnell was fortunate to be given the nod over Napa. Bouziane, 13-1-1 (1), made two successful defences of the European bantamweight crown against Carmelo Ballone and Emiliano Salvani (both on points) before deciding to vacate to pursue a world title.

The Frenchman’s bid to capture the IBF crown down at super-flyweight was unsuccessful though when he could only draw against South African champion Simphiwe Nongqayi in April.