In a battle for the real and legitimate WBA featherweight title, WBA regular featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) defeated WBA super featherweight champion Nonito Donaire (33-3, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
The Jamaican dropped Donaire with an uppercut in round three before closing the show in Round 6 with a hard right hand that sent the ?Filipino Flash? face first to the canvas. Donaire rose at nine but appeared too hurt to continue.
Time was 2:59.
A five-division world champion and RING Magazine’s 2012 Fighter of the Year, the 31 year old Donaire was born in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines, to Filipino parents, and moved to the United States at age eleven.
Through the years, however, Donaire has remained close to his roots and his native Philippines has embraced him as one of their own.
On Saturday (Sunday in the Philippines), the query “Donaire vs Walters” was the trendiest search in Google Philippines, far and away surpassing the No. 2 query “euthanasia.”
The results are indicative of Donaire’s popularity and strong fan base in his native land.
