Napa to make title defence

British champion lines up title defence

By Rachel Griffiths   Last updated: 29th December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Napa to make title defence

Napa: Will defend title

His European title loss against Malik Bouziane was a shock to him. After that fight myself and Ian's trainer Brian Lawrence told him he had to put more in to succeed

Frank Maloney
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Ian Napa v Jamie McDonnell
British bantamweight title
Fri Jan 22, 10pm, Sky Sports 1 & HD1

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Ian Napa will make his first British bantamweight title defence against Jamie McDonnell at the Brentwood Centre in January.

Napa, who is in his second reign as champion after he regained the crown in October with a points win over Gary Davies, will face the young Doncaster challenger on Friday, January 22.

The Davies victory salvaged Napa's career after the Londoner lost the European title to Malik Bouziane earlier this year.

"Ian always seems to comeback when he has suffered a defeat," said promoter Frank Maloney.

"But he cannot afford any more if he wants to reach world level.

"His European title loss against Malik Bouziane was a shock to him. After that fight myself and Ian's trainer Brian Lawrence told him he had to put more in to succeed.

"I cannot fault his application since and he proved himself once more by defeating Davies."

McDonnell has triumphed in his last four fights, with three of his victories coming inside the distance.

The 23-year-old has only been defeated twice and both were controversial points' losses in British super-flyweight title challenges to Lee Haskins and Chris Edwards.

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