RESULTS of the scorecard showed otherwise, but Nonito Donaire Jr., the five-division Filipino world champion, believed that he put up a performance enough to make him the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight champion.

Donaire refuted the scores of two judges that paved for his split decision loss to Seiya Tsutusmi, who retained his WBA belt on Wednesday night, Dec. 17, at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

One of the judges scored the bout for the 43-year-old Donaire, 116-112, but the two other judges had the defending Japanese champion winning the 12-round contest, 117-111, and 115-113.

Donaire emphasized that he has nothing against his opponent, but for him, he simply won the fight.

“I gave everything I had in that ring, and I leave with my head held high,” said Donaire in an Instagram post.

Donaire had his moments in the early round and even rocked his 29-year-old opponent with solid hits.

In the end, the “Filipino Flash” fell short but insisted was proud of his performance against a much younger opponent.

“While the scorecards don’t reflect how I felt the fight unfolded, I’m grateful for the opportunity and proud of the work,” Donaire said.

Donaire went home with his third loss in the last four fights. He fell to 43W-9L.

Tsutsumi, on the other hand, remained undefeated at 13W-0L, 3D with eight knockout wins.(CCM)

• Tags
• #Nonito Donaire Jr.
• #Seiya Tsutsumi
• #WBA bantamweight title
• #split decision loss
• #Kokugikan Arena
• #Tokyo
• #Dec. 17
• #five-division world champion
• #scorecards
• #judges’ scores
• #43-year-old Donaire
• #29-year-old Tsutsumi
• #Filipino Flash
• #early rounds
• #solid hits