Riku Masuda may have ended the career of Nonito Donaire today in Yokohama, Japan, and we also saw Anthony Olascuaga retain his WBO flyweight title, while Shokichi Iwata picked up the WBC light flyweight belt.
Masuda (10-1, 9 KO) stopped the 43-year-old Donaire (43-10, 28 KO) in the eighth round of their scheduled 10-round bantamweight bout. Donaire had some success in the fight, but was affected by a cut in the fifth round, which came from a clash of heads, and was dropped in the seventh before being
stopped the following round.
Judges had the fight scored 67-64, 68-63, and 68-63, all in favor of the 28-year-old Masuda, when Donaire’s corner told the referee to stop it.
It’s a second straight loss and four out of five now for Donaire, who does still have ability and can compete, but is finding the wins much harder to come by than they used to be. His only victory since 2021 came in June 2025, when he beat Andres Campos by technical decision in Argentina.
Will Nonito Donaire hang up the gloves?
Donaire has absolutely nothing left to prove in boxing, and hasn’t for years. The Hall of Fame-bound Filipino great will retire sooner than later, or at least you’d think, but most of those recent losses have perhaps given him enough positive encouragement via the better aspects of his performance to want to keep trying.
Masuda has now won seven straight following his close decision loss to Seiya Tsutsumi in August 2023. Tsutsumi has also gone on to have world-level success, and Masuda should be considered a contender at 118 lbs.
Olascuaga retains, Iwata wins title
Anthony Olascuaga (12-1, 9 KO) retained his WBO flyweight title with a fifth successful defense, stopping Jukiya Iimura in the ninth round of what had been a one-sided fight.
At the time of the stoppage, judges had Olascuaga, 27, up on scores of 79-72, 80-71, and 80-71. Iimura (9-2, 2 KO) was knocked down in the seventh round on a left hook.
Los Angeles’ Olascuaga is now 6-1 fighting in Japan, where he came over as a short notice title challenger for Kenshiro Teraji in 2023, fighting hard enough in defeat to earn return dates in the country, where his career has been based since, save for one fight in Las Vegas last year.
Shokichi Iwata (16-2, 12 KO) took the WBC 108 lb title from Thammanoon Niyomtrong, aka Knockout CP Freshmart, via technical decision inside of eight rounds.
The bout was halted due to a cut on Niyomtrong, and sent to the cards. The judges scored if 78-74, 79-73, and 79-73 for Iwata, 30, who is now a two-time champ at light flyweight.
In other notable action, Ryusei Matsumoto retained his secondary WBA 105 lb belt, taking a clean sweep, shutout decision over Yuni Takada in a rematch. Matsumoto (8-0, 4 KO) had won a technical decision in five rounds over Takada (16-10-3, 6 KO) last September.
Over both fights, none of the six score cards saw Takada winning a single round. Last September, he lost on scores of 50-46, 50-45, and 50-45. Today, all three judges saw it 120-108 for Matsumoto.
