Andoni Gago remains in possession of his blue belt following a stalemate with former world title challenger Gavin McDonnell in Barcelona, Spain.
Eric Armit reports.
Gago vs. McDonnell
Gago retains the European title with a controversial majority technical draw against McDonnell. There was a total contrast in styles here.
The much taller McDonnell wanted to box on the outside, and the smaller, aggressive Gago was launching a lunging attack to force McDonnell to the ropes where he could then work on the Englishman’s body.
McDonnell emerged from an exchange in the first with a cut over his right eye, which the referee ruled as having resulted from a clash of heads, but with some protesting, it was a punch that did the damage. Gogo constantly attacked, if not always accurately, hustling McDonnell out of his stride.
Gago threw more and landed more with the quality rather than quantity coming from McDonnell.
GAVIN MCDONNELL CUT
The doctor inspected McDonnell’s cut in the fourth round but allowed the fight to continue until the bell. Before there was any action in the fifth, the doctor ruled the cut too bad for McDonnell to continue. Judges would then score the fifth round.
It went to the judge’s cards, and they returned scores of 48-48, 48-48, and 50-46 for McDonnell, resulting in a majority draw.
Incensed Spanish supporters believed Gago was a clear winner. Gago was making the first defense of the European title, and an 8-0-1 run had seen him rated IBF 6(5)/WBC 14.
McDonnell has lost in fights at super bantamweight for both the vacant WBC title where he dropped a majority decision against Rey Vargas and the WBA title where he was stopped in ten rounds by Daniel Roman.
This was his first fight for 16 months. Hopefully, there will be a return, and normally the champion would want that in his home territory, but that did not work out well for Gago.
