Seiya Tsutsumi vs Nonito Donaire Preview Dec. 17th, 2025
Unbeaten WBA Bantamweight Champion Seiya Tsutsumi of Japan defends his belt for the second time when he takes on former four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire of the Philippines this Wednesday, December 17th. Donaire beat Andres Campos of Chile via a nine-round technical decision for the vacant WBA Interim Bantamweight Title in June when a clash of heads ended the fight as Donaire was unable to continue because of a cut. It was Donaire’s first fight since July, 2023 when he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Alexandro Santiago in a shot at the vacant WBC Bantamweight Title. That was his second straight defeat as in June, 2022 he lost the WBC title to Naoya Inoue in their rematch when he was stopped in the second round. Inoue had beaten Donaire by 12-round unanimous decision in a classic in their first meeting in 2019 in the final of the World Boxing Super Series. Tsutsumi won the title in October, 2024 with a unanimous decision over Takuma Inoue and then defended the belt this February by battling to a draw with former world champion Daigo Higa. Tsutsumi and Higa had also fought to a 10-round draw in 2020. This week’s fight takes place in Tokyo, Japan and can be seen live on U Next there.
Tsutsumi vs Donaire Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Nonito Donaire +269
- Seiya Tsutsumi – 375
My Pick
Tsutsumi is 29 years old and enters the ring on Wednesday night with a near-perfect mark of 12-0-3 with 8 Ko’s and has boxed 102 rounds since making his pro debut in 2018. He measures just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 64.5-inch reach. As far as power is concerned. Tsutsumi has quite a bit of it as 67.7 per cent of his victories have come by way of stoppage including four of his past seven.
The three blemishes on his record began with two consecutive draws back in 2020. He went 10 rounds with Kazuki Nakajima in January and nine months later was held by former world champion Daigo Higa over another 10 rounds. Of course, he also fought to a 12-round draw with Higa in his last outing in February in another slugfest after taking the title from Takuma Inoue by unanimous decision four months earlier. Tsutsumi won the Japanese Bantamweight Title in 2022 via an eighth-round TKO over Kyosuke Sawada and defended the belt four times, twice by TKO and twice by unanimous decision.
The now-43-year-old ‘Filipino Flash’ Donaire bounced back with wins over Ryan Burnett in 2018 for the WBA Belt and Stephon Young in 2019 in the World Boxing Super Series after dropping a unanimous decision to Carl Frampton in a shot at the vacant interim WBO Featherweight crown in April, 2018. He then lost that WBA Title to Naoya Inoue in 2019.
He rebounded from the defeat to Inoue with a magnificent performance against Nordine Oubaali in May, 2021 and dropped him three times before the fight was stopped in the fourth round to win the WBC Bantamweight Belt. He successfully defended it six months later against fellow countryman Reymart Gaballo by stopping him in the fourth round. However, he then lost the belt against Naoya Inoue in their rematch in June, 2022 when he was stopped in the second round and then lost to Alexandro Santiago a year later by unanimous decision in a shot at the vacant WBC Belt.
He earned another title shot however with his latest performance, the technical decision over Andres Campos. After all of this recent action, Donaire’s record now stands at 43-8 with 28 Ko’s. He’s a former amateur star who moved to America as a youngster and is 17-7 with 11 Ko’s in world title fights. He’s also a four-division World Champion as he’s held titles in the flyweight, bantamweight, super bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
Donaire, who fights out of Las Vegas, has also captured numerous regional and minor titles since turning pro in 2001 and has boxed 320 rounds since then with 65.1 per cent of his wins coming by stoppage. His biggest victories have been over Gaballo, Oubaali, Ryan Burnett, Vic Darchinyan (twice), Hernan Marquez, Fernando Montiel, Omar Narvaez, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka, and Jorge Arce.
His losses have come at the hands of Naoya Inoue (twice), Carl Frampton in 2018, Jessie Magdaleno in 2016, Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2013, Nicholas Walters in 2014 and Rosendo Sanchez in his second pro bout in 2001. The only men to stop him were Inoue in 2022 and Walters in the sixth round, but Donaire’s proven over the years to have a pretty solid chin. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 68.5-inch reach for a 1.5-inch height and four-inch reach advantage over Tsutsumi. Donaire will be attempting to break his own record of becoming the oldest bantamweight champion in history. He set the mark by winning the belt at the age of 38.
Prediction…
Both Tsutsumi and Donaire looked impressive in their last outings but Tsutsumi is 14 years younger than Donaire and likes letting his hands go. Donaire is a future hall of famer and has looked sensational in various fights earlier in his career. He was brought back to earth by Naoya Inoue for the second time though and then appeared to hang up his gloves. However, after watching Inoue get up from the canvas to stop Ramon Cardenas last year, Donaire decided to make a comeback. Donaire used to possess great counterpunching ability and decisive power to go with a pretty solid chin and has the size advantage over Tsutsumi. The champion will need to work his way inside to be effective and be wary of Donaire’s counterpunching ability. Considering the age of the boxers and the fact that Tsutsumi is fighting at home and can throw leather like there’s no tomorrow, I’m expecting him to retain the belt this week.
Tstutsumi is 14 years younger and more aggressive in the ring.
Play: Tsutsumi -375 @ BetOnline.ag
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Nonito Donaire betting • Seiya Tsutsumi betting