Donaire to defend featherweight title vs unbeaten Walters

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Donaire to defend featherweight title vs unbeaten Walters

Chris Farina - Top Rank

Nonito Donaire Jr will make the first defense of his WBA featherweight belt against unbeaten Jamaican Nicholas Walters

MANILA, Philippines – Nonito Donaire Jr will defend his WBA featherweight title against unbeaten Nicholas Walters on October 18 at the Stubhub Center, in Carson, Calif., according to RingTV.com.

Donaire (33-2, 22 knockouts) of San Leandro, Calif. by way of Talibon, Bohol will be making his first defense of the belt he won by a fifth-round technical decision over Simpiwe Vetyeka on May 31 in Macau. In that fight, Donaire was severely cut by an accidental headbutt in the first round before dropping Vetyeka in the fourth. The fight was stopped at the beginning of round five because of the severity of the cut with all three judges scoring the fight 49-46.

Walters (24-0, 20 KOs) of Montego Bay, Jamaica last fought on that undercard, knocking out former Donaire rival Vic Darchinyan in five rounds, sending the former two-division champion into retirement. The 28-year-old Walters employs solid body punching and counterpunching to break opponents down.

Though Donaire is the champion, Walters is rated a notch higher at no. 3 by THE RING magazine at 126 pounds. Confusingly, Walters holds the WBA’s “regular” featherweight title, which is not recognized as a legitimate world championship.

RingTV reported that K2 Promotions president Tom Loeffler had confirmed that the Donaire-Walters fight would be co-featured bout to the HBO-televised Gennady Golovkin vs Marco Antonio Rubio WBA middleweight title fight.

The fight has yet to be announced by Donaire’s promoter Top Rank, and a message requesting comment on the matter has not yet been returned. – Rappler.com


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