Donaire gracious in defeat
Credit to Author: Josef T. Ramos, TMT| Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 16:13:35 +0000
Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. was gracious in defeat Thursday night after losing to Japanese Naoya Inoue in a bantamweight unification bout, the final round of the World Boxing Super Series, at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Donaire, 10 years older than the 26-year-old Inoue, gave the unbeaten Japanese trouble in the early rounds but eventually lost via unanimous decision.
The three judges scored 116-111, 117-109, 114-113 in favor of the Japanese.
Inoue (19-0 win-loss record with 16 knockouts), now the World Boxing Association super and regular bantamweight champion, also bagged the Muhammad Ali trophy, which Donaire requested to borrow for a night to fulfill his promise to his sons.
“I came to Japan to take the Muhammad Ali trophy. I promised my sons they would see it in the morning. And with tears in my eyes, I humbly asked Inoue to borrow it for a night, not for me but for my word,” Donaire posted on his official Facebook page hours after the fight.
“It will be a life lesson my boys will soon learn that you do your best and you come short. You will win. You will lose. But in either aspect you will do so graciously. It’ll pain them to see my face. They will kiss my wounds.”
Donaire is perhaps the first opponent that gave Inoue serious trouble.
The Japanese sustained a nasty cut on his left eyelid in the eighth round from Donaire’s right cross. Inoue was also profusely bleeding in the nose for most parts of the fight.
But Inoue’s sharp counter punching and superior stamina wore down Donaire in the end.
“They will see a trophy we don’t get to take home and understand what it means to want to train harder. And I told about the battle I fought. That I’d rather put my life on that shield than give up. And that we will ALWAYS fight,” reads another part of Donaire’s post.
Donaire’s father Dodong who also served as his cutman in the bout said his son’s boxing journey will continue.
“’Yan gusto niya at wala akong magagawa. Kung ako lang ang masusunod, ayaw ko na siyang lumaban pa. Nothing to prove na. (That’s what he wants. I don’t want him to fight anymore. He has nothing to prove anymore),” Dodong told The Manila Times through an online interview.