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| Nonito Donaire looks at Stephon Young after knocking him out in their WBA bantamweight super championship bout. WBSS |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA—Nonito Donaire successfully retained his World Boxing Association bantamweight super championship belt after knocking out Stephon Young in the bantamweight division semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA on Sunday (Philippine Time).
Donaire flashed some vintage brilliance after knocking Young out with his signature left hook to earn a title unification shot, which was actually supposed to happen on Sunday.
Donaire was originally slated to face South African Zolani Tete in the said bout with the WBA and the World Boxing Organization belts on the line.
But Tete backed out at the 11th hour due to should tendinitis, and the WBSS replaced him with Young.
Young, however, showed that he deserves a title shot after delivering a solid punch to Donaire in Round 2.
But it turned to be the American's only shining moment as "The Filipino Flash" took control of the next four rounds.
The end came at the 2:37 mark of Round 6 when Donaire's left hook knocked Young out cold that the referee quickly called it a bout without a single count.
Donaire moves up to 40-5, scoring his 26th knockout of his career.
Young, on the other hand, dropped to 18-3-2 (win-draw-loss).
Donaire will await the winner of the Naoya Inoue-Emmanuel Rodriguez bout on May 19 (Philippine Time) in the WBSS final.
The WBA regular and IBF bantamweight belts will be unified in the said clash.
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