By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Nonito “The Flash” Donaire fell short of taking down Japanese Naoya “Monster” Inoue in their World Boxing Super Series bantamweight clash at Saitama Super Arena, Japan.
The 36-year-old Filipino slugger showed signs of slowing down as he wasn’t able to show the pace and movement we have grown accustomed to seeing during his peak years. Donaire’s combinations were noticeably slower compared to the Japanese star’s flurries.
Despite all that, Donaire still mustered his power and will to give Inoue a run for his money. In the first rounds, the Filipino was able to rock the Japanese with solid hooks and uppercuts.
Donaire boxed more and kept his distance by throwing jabs and hooks to take advantage of his reach.
Trying to cut the distance and negate Donaire’s reach advantage, Inoue pressed forward and initiated more, maintaining close quarter contact that exposed the slow jab response of Donaire.
However, during the 9th to 11th round, Donaire began to rock Inoue a couple of times with his solid hooks, but unfortunately, the Japanese star was able to brush off the blows.
It was in the 11th round when Inoue caught Donaire with a staggering shot to the body that brought him down, scoring the first knockdown of the match.
The scores went 116-111, 117-109, and 114-113 with Inoue winning via unanimous decision.
