Riku Masuda vs Nonito Donaire Preview March 15th, 2026
There’s a WBA Bantamweight eliminator on tap in Yokohama, Japan this Sunday March 15th as former four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire of the Philippines takes on Riku Masuda of Hiroshima. Donaire beat Andres Campos via a nine-round technical decision for the vacant WBA Interim Bantamweight Title last 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 he lost the WBC title to Naoya Inoue in their rematch when he was stopped in the second round in 2022. Inoue had beaten Donaire by unanimous decision in their first meeting in 2019. Donaire’s last outing was against WBA Beltholder Seiya Tsutsumi in Japan in December and he lost a controversial split decision. Masuda last fought in November when he beat Jose Miguel Cervantes by a five-round technical majority decision. This week’s fight can be seen live in Japan on U-Next.
Masuda vs Donaire Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Nonito Donaire +157
- Seiya Tsutsumi – 205
My Pick
The 28-year-old Masuda is a southpaw who enters the bout with a mark of 9-1 with 8 Ko’s and has boxed just 43 rounds since making his pro debut in 2022. He’s well known as a power puncher early in career as eight of his nine wins have come by stoppage. These came against Worraphon Yothika in 110 seconds in 2022; against Jeong Ho An in 145 seconds in 2022; a seventh-round stoppage of Fumiya Fuse; against Jonas Sultan in 141 seconds in 2024; against Fumiya Fuse in four rounds in a rematch in 2024; against Yoshihiro Utsumi in seven rounds in 2024; against Kaisei Matsumoto in six rounds in 2025 and against Michell Banquez in 147 seconds in 2025.
It’s obvious Masuda has plenty of power and prefers to get his opponents out of there as quickly as possible as 89 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. His lone defeat came at the hands of Seiya Tsutsumi via a close 10-round unanimous decision in 2023 in a shot at the Japanese Bantamweight Title. However he managed to capture that belt 11 months later in his rematch with Fuse. Masuda will be taking big step up in class as his lone world-class opponent thus far has been Tsutsumi.
Donaire, the ‘Filipino Flash’ is now 43 years old. He bounced back with wins over Ryan Burnett in 2018 for the WBA Bantamweight 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 the IBF Boss Naoya Inoue in 2019.
He rebounded from the defeat to Inoue with a magnificent performance against Nordine Oubaali in 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 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.
Donaire earned another title shot however with his technical decision over Andres Campos but fell short against Seiya Tsutsumi. After all of this recent action, Donaire’s record now stands at 43-9 with 28 Ko’s. He’s a former amateur star who moved to America as a youngster and is 17-8 with 11 Ko’s in world title fights. He’s 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 332 rounds since then with 65.1 per cent of his wins coming by stoppage. However he’s 1-3 in his last four fights and his last KO victory came in 2021. His biggest victories have been over Gaballo, Oubaali, 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 Tsutsumi, Santiago, 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 half-inch height advantage over Masuda while giving up half-an-inch in reach.
Prediction…
The veteran Donaire is a future hall-of-famer who looked quite impressive in his last outing against Seiya Tsutsumi but fell just short. Masuda is 15 years younger than Donaire though and definitely likes letting his hands go in search of a knockout. Donaire has looked sensational in various fights during his career but he has lost nine times. Donaire owns great counterpunching ability and good power to accompany a pretty solid chin and Masuda will need to be wary of these strengths. This is a hard choice as Donaire was very effective against Tsutsumi in his last fight but was that his last stand? If it was, then I’m expecting Masuda to beat him but if Donaire can replicate his latest ring performance then he certainly has a good shot at a mild upset. Masuda is younger, more powerful and fighting at home though, so I’ll give him a slight edge here.
Masuda is 15 years younger, more powerful and aggressive.
Play: Masuda -205 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Nonito Donaire betting • Riku Masuda betting