MANILA, Philippines — Riku Masuda defeated Nonito Donaire by technical knockout in the eighth round of their WBA bantamweight world title eliminator, ending the bout after Donaire’s corner threw in the towel.
Donaire (43-10, 28 knockouts) suffered a knockdown in the seventh round when Masuda landed a left hand that sent the Filipino veteran to the canvas. The fight ended in the eighth round after Donaire’s corner stopped the contest.
Masuda (10-1, 9 knockouts) controlled the later rounds of the bout despite Donaire landing a right hand that briefly hurt the Japanese fighter in the sixth round.
A victory would have positioned Donaire for another shot at the bantamweight world title. The loss marked his fourth defeat in his last five fights, including a previous loss to Seiya Tsutsumi for the WBA belt in Tokyo in December.
Donaire, a four-division world champion, became the oldest bantamweight champion in May 2021 at age 38 when he knocked out Nordine Oubaali to win the WBC title. He later retained the belt with a fourth-round knockout of Raymart Gaballo later that year.