NONITO Donaire displayed tremendous effort against a much younger opponent but his gallant stand proved not enough for him to score what could have been a historic vitory as he bowed to Seiya Tsutsumi on Wednesday, Dec. 17, Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

Tsutsumi, who is 14 years younger than Donaire, escaped with a split decision victory to retain his World Boxing Association bantamweight title.

Judge Robert Hoyle had the 43-year-old Donaire winning the 12-round fight, 116-112, but the two other judges, Leszek Jankowiak and Pinit Prayadsab, penned the bout, 117-111, and 15-113, respectively, for the Japanese champion.

Donaire came into the fight gunning for a win that would have made him third oldest world champion in history after Bernard Hopkins (49 years old) and George Foreman (45).

Instead, Donaire fell to 43W-9L, 28KOs. The five-division world champion Donaire trained in Cebu City for just his second fight this year after his technical decision win over Chile’s Andres Campos last June at Casino Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Tsutsumi, on the other hand, stayed undefeated through 16 fights. He has three draws with eight knockout wins.(CCM)

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• #Nonito Donaire
• #Seiya Tsutsumi
• #boxing
• #bantamweight
• #World Boxing Association (WBA) title
• #Tokyo
• #Japan
• #Ryogoku Kokugikan
• #split decision
• #judges Robert Hoyle
• #Leszek Jankowiak
• #Pinit Prayadsab
• #12-round fight
• #43-year-old Donaire
• #14-year age differenc