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[av_heading heading=’Nonito Donaire loses in undercard ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Nonito Donaire Jr. failed to defend the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight belt after his unanimous-decision defeat to Jessie Magdaleno on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
It was the third loss in the last nine matches for Donaire, a Talibon, Bohol native who captured the belt with an escape of a victory over Mexican Cesar Juarez in December 2015.
Magdaleno came out aggressive at the start, dominating Donaire in the first few rounds, but the Filipino retaliated with his own left and right combinations in the latter rounds.
Donaire was so disappointed he rushed to the officials’ table after the 116-112, 116-112, 118-110 score favoring Magdaleno was announced.
“I thought I got control of the second half. Losing never crossed my mind,” said Donaire. “I don’t understand (how the judges) are scoring the fight anymore. We clearly won the fight.”
With the defeat, the boxing record of the 34-year-old Donaire went down to 37-4-0 win-loss-draw with 24 knockout victories, while Magdaleno improved his clean slate to 24-0-0.
In other matches, Chinese boxer Zou Shiming claimed the vacant WBO flyweight belt with a unanimous decision win over Prasitsak Phaprom, considered Manny Pacquiao’s “doppelganger,” of Thailand.
Zou’s victory will put him into title defense with Murcia, Negros Occidental native Donnie Nietes, who is expected to rise as the No. 1 contender for the WBO flyweight belt.
Meanwhile Mexican Oscar Valdez retained the WBO featherweight championship with a seventh-round technical-knockout win over Japanese boxer Hiroshige Osawa./PN
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