CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) Jamie McDonnell successfully defended his WBA bantamweight title Sunday, knocking down Tomoki Kameda in the 12th round en route to a unanimous decision.
The 29-year-old McDonnell improved to 27-2-1 with his second straight victory over Kameda. The English fighter took the title from Kameda in May with a unanimous decision in Hidalgo, Texas.
McDonnell received winning scores of 116-111, 115-112, 117-110, punctuating the victory with a right hand that sent the turning Kameda to the canvas.
''When I dropped him in the last round, I think he did slip a little bit,'' McDonnell said. ''I tried to stay away, but I did catch him. After that, I know, I sealed the victory.
''My jab was the key in the fight, and it was a great weapon for me. I just had to make sure that I stuck to the game plan we had been working on for over eight weeks.''
With trainer Ismael Salas in his corner for the first time, the 24-year-old Kameda dropped to 31-2.
''I thought I won this fight a lot more clearly than the last fight,'' Kameda said. ''I think I had the right plan and did everything right.''
Kamada left Japan at 15 to live and train in Mexico.
Also at American Bank Center, Anthony Dirrell unanimously outpointed Marco Antonio Rubio in a 10-round super-middleweight bout.
The 30-year-old Dirrell, from Flint, Michigan, rebounded from a loss to Badou Jack in April to improve to 28-1-1. He took all three cards 100-90.
''I'm back,'' Dirrell said. ''The kennel is open.''
The 35-year-old Rubio dropped to 59-8-1.
''He's got a little pop on his punch, and with a guy like that, you still have to respect him, because nobody's chin can get strong,'' Dirrell said. ''Anybody catches you on the chin, you're going down.''
