It wasn’t the most ideal path to victory, but Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. is a world champion once more.
Fighting for the first time since 2023, the 42-year-old boxing icon secured the WBA interim bantamweight crown via technical decision against Chile’s Andres Campos on Sunday morning (Manila time) at Casino Buenos Aires in Argentina.
The bout was halted in the ninth round after Donaire sustained a cut above his right eye from an accidental headbutt and declared he could no longer continue. The fight went to the scorecards, where all three judges awarded Donaire the win—88-83, 87-84, and 87-84—marking a dramatic return to the ring following his loss to Alexandro Santiago in July 2023.
Now holding a 43-8 record with 28 knockouts, Donaire joins fellow Filipinos Melvin Jerusalem and Pedro Taduran as one of the country’s current world champions. Campos, meanwhile, drops to 17-3-1 (6 KOs).
Despite back-to-back defeats—including a 2022 knockout by Naoya Inoue and a unanimous decision loss to Alejandro Santiago in 2023—Donaire was given another shot at gold. And once again, he made history.
In 2021, he became the oldest fighter to win a bantamweight world title when he knocked out Nordine Oubaali at age 38. Over the years, Donaire has captured titles in four weight divisions: flyweight, super flyweight, bantamweight, and featherweight. (ALEX OERBE)
