Walters halts Donaire late in 6th round

Referee Raul Caiz Jr., left, watches Nonito Donaire on the canvas after Donaire lost to Nicholas Walters in the sixth round during a WBA featherweight title boxing fight, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, in Carson, California. AP

CARSON, California—Jamaican Nicholas Walters gave four-division world champion Nonito Donaire Jr. the worst beating of his sterling career, knocking down the Filipino Flash in the third round and stopping him for good with a second left in the sixth to crown himself as the undisputed WBA featherweight champion Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) at the StubHub Center here.

Living up to his nickname “Axe-Man,” Walters decked Donaire for the first time in the third round before slamming an overhead right to the head after the Filipino had missed with a huge left hand to send him face first to the canvas late in the sixth round.

Although he beat the count, referee Raul Caiz Jr. ruled it was all over for Donaire, who became the 11th knockout victim in the last 12 fights for Walters, now with an unbeaten record in 25 bouts, 21 of them ending in KOs.

Donaire’s unexpected one-sided loss suddenly put a big question mark on the future of the former flyweight, bantamweight, super bantamweight and featherweight champ who was the consensus Fighter of the Year in 2012.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum said he is positive Donaire will fight on. Donaire had just inked a fresh contract with Top Rank that will last until the end of 2016.

Ricardo Jimenez, an Arum assistant, said Donaire received several stitches for the gaping wound on his right eyelid that Walters opened in the third round with heavy and consistent jabs.

“He’s okay,” Donaire’s wife, Rachel, said in a Viber message. She said Donaire didn’t have to be taken to a hospital and was in their room at Marriott Manhattan Beach several miles away.

All three judges—Adelaide Byrd, Steve Morrow and Thomas Taylor—had Walters winning before the sixth. CompuBox punch stats crunched the numbers overwhelmingly for Walters: 284-169, in total punches thrown, 162-59 in jabs  and 122-110 in power punches. Walters also outhit Donaire in every round.

By some quirk in the WBA rules, the division crowned Donaire as the WBA super featherweight champ with Walters as regular featherweight king following their victories over separate rivals last May. This paved the way for the unification clash in the 126-pound division, where the Jamaican obviously thrived.

Immediately after the fight, Donaire, who dropped to 33-3-0 with 21 KOs, said he’s thinking of either going down in weight or hanging his gloves for good.

“We’re looking at it,” said Donaire during the ring interview. “We’ll decide, I came out here with a great champion, I never backed down from any fight.

“I got the WBA crown already, I didn’t have to fight him but I am here knowing that Walters is an amazing fighter and he deserves the shot,” said Donaire who was still cheered by about 9,400 spectators, the majority of them Filipinos.

Donaire actually won the first two rounds from two of the three judges.

His most brilliant moment came late in the second when he banged the Jamaican with a left hook that sent him reeling sideways. Donaire tried to follow it up with an uppercut but the bell rang.

“He could have knocked him out if he had another 30 seconds,” Arum said.

Walters was visibly hurt and took some time to find his corner.

“I got a little confident,” Walters said. “I said I got a little more power, then Nonito caught me a with a good shot. Boom. He caught me pretty good and the bell rang.”

Walters recovered and inflicted on Donaire his first-ever knockdown 15 seconds before the third round ended, hammering a right uppercut that caught the Filipino who was ducking from a combination.