Has Father Time has caught up with the Filipino Flash?
For the second time in his career, Nonito Donaire fell hard on the canvas, suffering a second round technical knockout at the hands of Naoya Inoue in boxing’s bantamweight division, Tuesday evening at Saitama Super Arena.
The 39-year-old native of Talibon, Bohol was unable to snatch the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation title from Naoya Inoue, while also losing his World Boxing Council title in the process.
Unlike their December 2019 bout at the very same arena which was hailed as the fight of the year, Inoue fulfilled his promise to give the fans a knockout victory, making sure to not leave anything to chance
After dropping Donaire in the dying seconds of the first round, the Monster caught Donaire with a counter-left hook, hurting him in the process.
The hook rocked Donaire to the core as he was still dizzy the following round.
It was the green light needed by Inoue to finish of the grizzled veteran, throwing both hands at him.
Inoue followed it with a two-punch combination that ended with a left hook, dropping Donaire for good this time at the 1:24 mark of the round.
“At the very first round, I received a left hook from Nonito. That punch made me woke up and I stayed focused throughout the fight,” said the 29-year old Japan native.
Despite the win, the undefeated champion is still grateful to Donaire for a chance for a second bout.
“Without Nonito I can’t do this. We fought at the WBSS (World Boxing Super Series), and after two years and seven months later, he won the WBC belt and came back to fight against me. That is why we are here,” he said. “Thank you so much Nonito for everything.”
With the win, Inoue (23-0, 20 KO) is now in possession of the three of the four coveted boxing titles. Donaire on the other hand dropped its slate to 42-7 (28 KO)
Now the world waits for what’s next for the future Hall of Famer.
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