COMEBACKING Nonito Donaire was still good enough to beat a younger foe in Andres Campos of Chile, scoring a technical decision on Sunday to become the interim WBA bantamweight title holder.
Climbing the ring for the first time in two years, the 42-year-old Filipino appeared a bit rusty, but nonetheless repeatedly countered Campos with his left hook to score the win by unanimous decision at the Casino Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Donaire suffered a cut in his right eye a minute into the ninth round due to another accidental head butt, leaving his eye almost shut to a close.
'The Filipino Flash' was leading in all three scorecards, 87-84 (Ignacio Robles), 87-84 (Jose Roberto Torres), and 88-83 (Guillermo Perez Pineda) when the 12-round fight was stopped.
“Sorry that this happened,” said Donaire in the post-fight interview inside the ring. “I wanted to show my fighting heart and warrior spirit to the people of Argentina. I will do my best the next time. It’s going to be better.”
Donaire shakes up bantamweight scene
The oldest bantamweight champion in history improved his record to 43-8 with 28 KOs, and lined him up for a possible shot at the winner of the Antonio Vargas-Daigo Higa title match in Yokohama, Japan on July 30.
Vargas (19-1, 11 KOs) was the former interim bantamweight champion before being elevated as the regular title holder after Japanese Seiya Tsutsumi couldn’t physically and medically defend his crown.
The 28-year-old Vargas, who represented the US in the 2016 Rio Olympics, initially became the interim champion when he knocked out Winston Guerrero in the 10th round of their bout in Florida last December.
The win by Donaire, meanwhile, allowed him to bounce back from two successive losses against Alexandro Santiago and Naoya Inoue in two separate world title fights.
Campos, 28, is now 17-3-1 (6 KOs) and will likely go back to flyweight where he once challenged for the IBF crown, losing by unanimous decision to British fighter Sunny Edwards.
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