LAS VEGAS -- In a hard-hitting and highly entertaining fight, Jessie Magdaleno upset Nonito Donaire by unanimous decision to win a junior featherweight world title on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas welterweight title fight on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Magdaleno, the mandatory challenger, had never faced a quality opponent and never been past eight rounds, but he outworked Donaire en route to decision on scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112.
ESPN had Donaire winning 115-113, and many at ringside had it even.
But the judges went with the aggressive Magdaleno, who put in good work, especially early in the early rounds.
"It feels great to be a champion," said Magdaleno, after his first fight with trainer Manny Robles Jr. "I can't believe this right now. I have worked so hard for this. I can't believe I beat a fighter like Donaire. I don't have words to describe it."
Donaire opened a cut over Magdaleno's left eye on an accidental head butt in the fourth round. Magdaleno continually dabbed at the eye afterward. Donaire's face was also showing wear, as he had a swollen lump under his left eye.
Magdaleno's best weapon was his right hand, which he landed a lot, while Donaire lunged with his right and had a hard time connecting cleanly.
Magdaleno (24-0, 17 KOs), a 24-year-old southpaw from Las Vegas, had a huge ninth round, as he backed Donaire into the ropes with a flurry in the final minute and worked him over. Magdaleno landed several unanswered punches, including some hard right hands and a big left as the round wore down.
But Donaire (37-4, 24 KOs), 33, a Philippines native based in Las Vegas, came out strong in the 10th round and hurt Magdaleno early with a right hand, causing the Filipino-heavy crowd to erupt into chants of "Nonito! Nonito!" Donaire closed the 11th round with a booming right hand.
Donaire, who has won world titles in four weight divisions (five, if you include interim belts) and was making the second defense of his second junior featherweight title reign, closed strongly. He landed a right hand that seemed to stun a tiring Magdaleno in the final minute of the fight and struck with several more powerful right hands as the crowd went wild.
Donaire was stunned by the scorecards.
"I definitely won the fight," said Donaire, who was in his first with trainer Ismael Salas. "I thought I got control in the second half of the fight. Losing never crossed my mind. This is unbelievable."
Salas agreed.
"We got control of the fight in the second half and clearly won the fight," the trainer said.
According to CompuBox punch statistics, Magdaleno landed 154 of 500 punches (32 percent) and Donaire connected on 132 of 404 (33 percent).
Valdez stops Osawa
Oscar Valdez, one of boxing most exciting rising stars, retained his featherweight world title for the first time, as he stopped Hiroshige Osawa in the seventh round of a one-sided fight.
The 25-year-old Valdez, a two-time Olympian from Mexico who grew up in Tucson, Arizona, won a vacant world title by knocking out Argentina's Matias Adrian Rueda in the second round of a July 23 bout and was making a mandatory defense against Japan's Osawa. It was easy work.
As usual, Valdez attacked with his right hand and was very aggressive. Osawa, 31, a pro for 12 years, was facing his first notable opponent and was no match for Valdez, who had a huge fourth round.
Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs) dropped Osawa (30-4-4, 19 KOs) with a huge right hand on the chin. After Osawa beat the count, he found himself on the ropes getting pummeled by Valdez, who was lining him up for right hands as referee Vic Drakulich looked in closely.
In the seventh round, Valdez backed Osawa into a corner and teed off on him with numerous unanswered punches, prompting Drakulich to call a halt at 1 minute, 50 seconds.
"It was a very tough fight, probably the toughest opponent I face so far in my career," Valdez said. "Osawa took some big shots and I needed to take my time and not get careless. I know it was a good win, but I still have a lot learn. I am going to get better. I am happy to give Mexico another great win with my title defense."
According to CompuBox, Valdez landed 191 of 440 punches (43 percent) and Osawa landed 35 of 196 (18 percent).
Zou rolls to flyweight world title
Zou Shiming, a three-time Olympic medalist who owns two golds and China's most popular fighter, rolled to a near-shutout decision against Prasitsak Phaprom to win a vacant flyweight world title.
"Now my dream is complete," Zou said through a translator. "I am world champion and Olympic champion."
The fight was a rematch of their November 2014 bout in Macau, China, where Zou easily defeated Phaprom, the spitting image of a smaller Pacquiao, earning him the nickname "Mini Manny." In that fight, Zou dropped Phaprom twice and cruised to a near-shutout decision.
Since then, Phaprom reeled off 12 wins in a row -- all by knockout but all against low-level opposition -- before landing a second fight with Zou, who dominated once again to win one of the 112-pound belts recently vacated by Juan Francisco Estrada.
Two judges scored it 120-107 and one had it 119-108. ESPN.com also had it 120-107 for the 35-year-old Zou (9-1, 2 KOs), who won a world title in his second opportunity after losing a decision to Thailand's Amnat Ruenroeng in March 2015.
Zou landed a right hand in the second round to drop the shorter Phaprom (39-2-2, 24 KOs), although Phaprom did not appear hurt and popped right up. Zou boxed, moved and tapped Phaprom with combinations throughout the fight in a dominant performance. When Zou repeatedly nailed Phaprom in the sixth round, Phaprom patted his chin to egg Zou on -- and Zou responded by taunting Phaprom back and whacking him yet again.
Zou, who could barely miss with his right hand, opened a cut over Phaprom's left eye and nearly dropped him with a right in the seventh round. Phaprom, 35, looked done in ninth round and was fighting only on heart.
Lightweight Robson Conceicao, who became the first Brazilian to win an Olympic gold medal, doing so in front of his home crowd at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August, made his professional debut in a shutout decision against Clay Burns.
Conceicao (1-0, 0 KOs), 28, a three-time Olympian, will need to refine his style into a more professional manner by throwing fewer wide punches. But he had no problems with Burns (4-3-2, 4 KOs), 29, of Alexandria, Louisiana. Conceicao landed many clean shots with both hands and bloodied Burns' nose in winning 60-54 on all three scorecards.
"I feel very good after my first fight as a pro," Conceicao sad. "I felt that I dominated the fight, and the strategy that I wanted to use came out perfectly."
Lightweight Teofimo Lopez Jr., a 19-year-old who represented Honduras in the Rio de Janeiro Games, made his professional debut by scoring four knockdowns in a second-round knockout of Ishwar Siqueiros.
"This was an amazing experience. When I first got into the ring, I was so excited I wanted to cry. I felt very emotional during my pro debut," said Lopez, who came up through the USA Boxing amateur program and won the U.S. Olympic Trials but ended up representing his parents' home country of Honduras in the Olympics. "I see my family here with me and all I see is my goals in front of me. I am living my dream."
Lopez's blazing hand speed was evident immediately, as he went right at Siqueiros and dropped him twice in the first round, both times with fast right hands. At the bell ending the opening round, referee Jay Nady called a knockdown against Lopez, who touched his glove down when he appeared to slip.
Lopez (1-0, 1 KO), of Davie, Florida, continued to attack in the second round, dropping Siqueiros (3-2-1, 0 KOs), 18, of Mexico, twice more, first with a right hand to the head and then with a right hand to the body that dropped his opponent for a 10-count at 2 minutes, 3 seconds.
"Everything worked, particularly the body shots, jabs and right hands," said Lopez, who lost his opening bout in Rio.
Russian junior middleweight prospect Alexander Besputin (5-0, 4 KOs), 25, struggled and was hurt multiple times, including in the second round, but he won by fifth-round knockout against Azael Cosio (20-5-2, 17 KOs), 35, of Panama, when Cosio retired on his stool after the fifth round.
Featherweight Fernando Fuentes (8-8, 2 KOs), 22, of Riverside, California, pulled an upset by outpointing Xu Que (9-1-1, 2 KOs), 26, of China, in an action-packed fight that opened the card. They battled hard from the opening bell and both landed heavy punches, but the judges went with Fuentes on scores of 59-55, 58-56 and 58-56. After the fight, Que bent over in his corner to spit blood into the bucket in his corner.