NONITO Donaire Jr. just could not turn back the hands of time and suffered an eighth ninth round stoppage against Japanese Riku Masuda in their title eliminator bout in Yokohama, Japan Sunday night.
The 43-year-old Filipino was dropped by a Masuda left straight in the seventh round in what signaled the beginning of the end for the four-time world division champion.
Donaire’s corner felt he had had enough and decided to throw in the towel at the 1:12 mark of the eighth.
'The Filipino Flash’ has now lost four of his last five fights, including a second round TKO against then undisputed bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in their highly-anticipated rematch in 2022.
His record now stands at 43-10 (28 KOs), as question lingers on whether he needs to finally retire from the ring.
Donaire trailed in all three scorercards when the fight was stopped.
Richard Blouin had it 67-64, Raul Caiz 68-63, and Kwan Ho Jang, 68-63, all in favor of Masuda, who is 15 years younger than Donaire.
The rising Japanese fighter improved his record to 10-1 (9 KOs) and put himself in a position to challenge compatriot Seiya Tsutsumi for the WBA bantamweight crown.
Incidentally, Donaire lost by split decision against Tsutsumi last December.
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