Jamie McDonnell vs Gavin McDonnell: Boxing Brothers to Collide in Novel ‘Knockbox’ Show

Yorkshire has always been a searing hotbed for professional boxing. In particular, South Yorkshire has produced some top World Champions over the years, including ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed, Kell Brook and Johnny Nelson – not to mention the perpetually underrated Jamie McDonnell.

In his fighting prime, Jamie was amongst the best British boxers on the scene. He defeated Julio Ceja to win the IBF World Bantamweight title in 2013, but he is perhaps best known for his back-to-back wins over Tomoki Kameda in 2015. Despite being heavily unfavoured, he outboxed the Japanese star over 24 rounds, winning both contests by unanimous decision.

His brother, Gavin, was no slouch either. A former Area, British and European champion, he boasted wins over the likes of Leigh Wood, Gamal Yafai and Jorge Sanchez over the course of his career.

Now, after years of speculation, the two brothers will finally come to blows – albeit, not quite in the way you’d normally expect.

McDonnell vs McDonnell will take place at The Temple in Doncaster on June 27 under the ‘Knockbox’ banner. Promoting itself as an entirely new sport, rather than as a new boxing promotion, the card will feature former three-weight world champion Terri Harper against Millie Joe Guest as chief support. Additionally, Love Island’s Trey Norman is set to take on Dan Asfar in the opening bout.

Proceeds of the event will go to charity – tickets for the show, which are understood to be in limited availablity, can be found through the official Knockbox Instagram page. They’re £20 each and are restricted to over-18s only.

How will the scoring system work?

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Described as a mixture between boxing and darts, Knockbox bouts will take place over three rounds. In these three rounds, boxers are permitted to throw just three punches per session.

Punches will be graded on accuracy, rather than power. As the tagline suggests, ‘technique is everything’. Only one fighter will be allowed to throw a punch at a time, while the other tries to defend it. After all six punches have been thrown, the round ends. Furthermore, Rounds One and Three will be ‘challenge rounds’ where a fighter is only permitted to use a certain punch.

For example, a fighter may be asked to only use a jab, or their weka hand. As stressed by Knockbox founder Danny Maddison on Instagram, it ‘isn’t a fight’ as such.

Jamie retired from professional boxing in 2019, while Gavin hung up his gloves in 2021 – whatever the circumstances, it’s great to see them both back in action for one final time.