The classic story of exciting young champion vs. grizzled older champion proved to be a fun fight to watch.

Bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, 26, continued his tear through the division by defeating Nonito Donaire, 36, for his WBA (Super) Bantamweight belt. Inoue also held onto his IBF and The Ring bantamweight titles.

The younger fighter looked to be executing his game plan perfectly. He promised to box Donaire carefully, and he certainly did so in most of the first half of the fight.

The biggest moments from the first half came in the third and fifth rounds.

In the third round, Donaire took advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration and lit Inoue up with an uppercut and his legendary left hook. This opened a deep cut above the eye of his younger foe.

Inoue then returned the favor by seriously hurting Donaire in the end of the fifth, which saw the bell save the veteran champion.

By the end of the first seven rounds, it looked like he was on the way to a dominant decision win. Donaire never quit, though, and even managed to hit a slick combo in the 7th round. 

Round 8 kept moving forward, showing no fear, tagged Inoue with a few good shots. 

Donaire’s offense began to show dividends at the end of the 8th, which saw Inoue’s nose get bloodied and cuts open up on his face.

A huge right cross from donaire momentarily stunned Inoue in the 9th and forced him to try to clinch. Inoue recovered quickly, though.

Inoue began to land a few hits toward the end of the 9th round but none of them were really flush. He finished the round bleeding again.

Donaire was the clear aggressor in the later rounds. This was because he likely knew he had to win via knockout because of Inoue’s early dominance.

The 10th round started well for Inoue, who looked reinvigorated. He started to let his hands go again and throw more power punches. This didn’t deter the Filipino Flash, who kept moving forward. 

Aggressive movement wasn’t enough, though, as Inoue landed more punches and clearly outworked Donaire.

The 11th round started off in Inoue’s favor too, with the Monster starting to let more bombs fly toward Donaire’s head and body, which got the crowd to start chanting his name. He hit Donaire with a hard body shot that forced the Filipino to take a kneeling count.

You could see Donaire visibly slow down and start looking only for an opportunity to hit a big shot. He didn’t find the chance.

Inoue was clearly ahead at the start of the final round. To both their credits, the two fighters didn’t slow down in the final stanza. Donaire kept trying to hit a Hail Mary knockout, and Inoue was not content to play carefully and still continued to box and try to put Donaire away.

The fight ended in a well-deserved decision victory. Inoue showed he could battle against deep adversity – and a pretty deep cut on his right eyebrow showed that he felt his opponent’s power.

For his part, Donaire showed that he still has the heart of a warrior, and that he can still be a force to contend with. We’ll see where he goes from here, but he certainly looked like he still belonged in the ring.