Unbeaten Jamaican fighter Nicholas Walters (25-0-0, 21 KOs) shocked the boxing world Saturday night with a TKO win over 4-time division champion Nonito Donaire (33-3-0, 21 KOs) in Carson, California.
Walter’s resilience to Donaire’s best punches seemed to take the starch out of him as the fight went on.
Walters countered on a missed left hand with an overhand right that hit the shoulder, but sent Donaire crashing to the canvas for the second time in the fight.
The key moment of the fight proved to be a Walters right uppercut connection with 30 seconds left in the third round that dropped Donaire for the first time in Donaire’s career.
Referee Raul Craiz was forced to call the bout at 2:59 of the sixth round.
Welcome back to The Crossfire.
The bigger Walters utilized his reach advantage for much of the fight, forcing Donaire to work from the outside. He opened a cut above Donaire’s right eye in the fourth round, and overcame a stinging left hook by Donaire at the end of the second.
Donaire won titles at 112, 118, and 122 pounds and was defending the 126 pound WBA crown for the first time since winning it in May.
“I’m going to go back to the drawing board,” he said to ESPN’s Max Kellerman in the post fight interview.
“I just can’t compete with guys like Walters. He was overwhelming. I couldn’t match his size and his power.”
