Champion Nonito Donaire of the Philippines defended his world super bantamweight titles by stopping Toshiaki Nishioka in the ninth round on Saturday, handing the Japanese boxer his first defeat in eight years.
The 29-year-old Donaire knocked Nishioka down for the second time in the fight after 1 minute, 54 seconds of the ninth round. Nishioka got up but his corner stepped in to stop the fight.
With the stoppage Donaire (30-1, 19 KOs) retained his WBO and IBF super bantamweight titles and extended his own win streak to 29 contests.
Photo: Reuters
“When you engage you open up,” Donaire said. “I can pick him apart and then the demolition man comes in to knock him out.”
The fight ended when Nishioka (39-5-3, 24 KOs) walked into a straight right hand from Donaire at the Home Depot Center Stadium in Los Angles. Nishioka also went down with a minute left in the sixth round after being hit with two successive left hands inside.
Donaire dominated the fight, keeping Nishioka at a distance with left jabs and right hands to the body.
“We wanted to use my jab and use my speed,” Donaire said. “I wanted to open him up by timing that jab and that’s exactly what happened for me to be able to land that straight punch.”
In February, Donaire captured the vacant WBO 122-pound (55kg) title, winning a gritty split-decision over former world champion Wilfredo Vazquez. Five months later, he added the IBF title with a unanimous decision over Jeffrey Mathebula.
Donaire had won his previous three fights on points, so was pleased to stop his opponent.
“I got the guy that I thought was best in the division. Everybody is free fall. Let’s go,” Donaire said.
Nishioka had been unbeaten for 16 contests going into the fight and the veteran 36-year-old from Tokyo had successfully defended the WBC title seven times between 2009 and last year. Nishioka had not lost by knockout since the second fight of his career in 1995 and had not lost any contest since Thai star Veeraphol Sahaprom beat him in 2004.
PRICE v HARRISON
AFP, LIVERPOOL, England
Former Olympic champion Audley Harrison’s latest bid for a meaningful performance in the heavyweight ring ended in a humiliating 82-second flattening on Saturday.
Harrison, now 40, was knocked out by David Price in the first round as the winner retained his British and Commonwealth titles.
It was Sydney Olympic gold medallist Harrison’s sixth professional loss, coming two years after he was knocked out in the second round in Manchester by David Haye.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set