By MARK REY MONTEJO
Nonito Donaire’s bid to become the third oldest world champions fell short after suffering a split decision loss to Japanese Seiya Tsutsumi in their WBA bantamweight championship bout at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo Japan Wednesday, Dec. 17.
At 43, Donaire wanted to prove that he was far from over as he gave the 29-year-old Tsutsumi a hard time through their 12-round contest but the Japanese managed to retain his title after convincing two of the three judges.
Though Donaire got the nod of Robert Hoyle (116-112), the two other judges – Leszek Jankowiak (117-111) and Pinit Prayadsab (115-113) saw it differently.
A win for Donaire could have made him the third oldest world champion in history, next to American boxing greats Bernard Hopkins (49) and George Foreman (45).
The defeat was Donaire’s 9th against 43 wins , including a technical decision over Andres Campos of Chile last June.
Meanwhile, Tsutsumi improved his slate to 13 wins (8 KOs) against three draws.
Out for a fitting follow up to his impressive win the last time, Donaire came out swinging, dominating the first six rounds, especially in the fourth and fight rounds where he landed powerful punches to almost every where. m
But the Japanese, cheered on only lustily by the home fans, got back into the thick of everything after unleashing a series of combinations.
Both fighters put on a big show, trading heavy blows in the final two rounds, but being the younger fighter, Tsutsumi managed to produce cleaner shots.
