By Scott Gilfoid: Three months after WNA bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs) beat the talented Liborio Solis (25-5-1, 11 KOs) by a very controversial 12 round unanimous decision last November, the World Boxing Association has reportedly ordered a rematch between them, according to Fight News.
The negotiation period officially started yesterday on January 31, and they have one month to negotiate the fight before it goes to a purse bid.
McDonnell beat the 34-year-old Solis by the scores 116-112, 115-113, and 117-111). The fight took place at the Salle des Etoilles in Monte Carlo, Monaco. I saw the fight and I had Solis winning a lopsided 12 round decision.
It wasn’t even a close fight, as Solis dominated the taller, slower and weaker McDonnell from start to finish. McDonnell was just so lucky to have gotten the win. I thought it was the worst decision I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve seen fights where one fighter was robbed in fight that appeared to be a four or five round difference between them, but I’ve never seen a fight that was as such a controversial decision as the McDonnell-Solis.
That fight wasn’t even remotely lose. It was just a mismatch, but McDonnell still got the win. Another fight that was almost as bad was the Ricky Burns vs. Ray Beltran fight from 2013. Beltran appeared to win that fight by a 10 rounds to 2 score in my scoring of the fight, and yet the judges scored the fight a 12 round draw.
I’m wondering if McDonnell will take the fight. I thought he was going to move up in weight to the super bantamweight division to fight someone like Scott Quigg. McDonnell could probably make more money fighting someone else than he could fighting Solis again. That’s why I’ll be very surprised if McDonnell agrees to fight Solis a second time.
Solis really has McDonnell’s number in terms of speed, power, work rate and talent. I don’t think it’s a good match-up for McDonnell. They can match these two together 100 times, and Solis will get the better of him every time because he’s simply a more talented fighter in my view.
Solis is one of the most talented fighters I’ve ever seen at bantamweight. He can do it all. Granted, Solis was beaten soundly by Shunsuke Yamanaka last year in March, but that was a very good fighter he lost to. You can’t blame Solis for losing that fight, because Yamanaka is at another level right now. He’s fighting so well.
Amir Mansour vs. Travis Kauffman on March 17
Heavyweights Travis Kauffman (31-1, 23 KOs) and Amir Mansour (22-2-1, 16 KOs) will be fighting on March 17 at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. It should be a good fight. Mansour has huge punching power and a lot of talent going for him.