Nonito Donaire vs. Jessie Magdaleno: Winner, Scorecard and Reaction

Jessie Magdaleno is the new WBO super bantamweight champion following a unanimous-decision victory over Nonito Donaire on Saturday night inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The judges scored it 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112 in favor of Magdaleno, according to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. Yahoo Sports' Chris Mannix took issue with the first of those three scores:

While the gulf between the two fighters wasn't significant, Magdaleno was the clear victor. He succeeded in landing a high volume of punches over the course of the bout and prevented Donaire from stringing together any significant blows.  

Donaire opted for a careful approach to the first few rounds. He remained mostly on the defensive and looked to capitalize on his reach advantage with a high volume of jabs.

Ring magazine's Ryan Songalia thought the champion was measuring up Magdaleno for a devastating counter:

Magdaleno connected with some strong punches in the second and third rounds and looked to be finding a comfort zone. But he was on the receiving end of an inadvertent headbutt in the fourth round, which opened a cut above his left eye.

The challenger was forced to be a bit more conservative in order to protect his eye. That allowed Donaire to be a little more aggressive in the fourth and fifth rounds.

Magdaleno's corner did a great job of addressing the cut and closing it up, though, ahead of the sixth round. With his eye no longer an issue, Magdaleno attacked Donaire with renewed vigor. The southpaw resumed his strategy of attacking Donaire and regained control of the fight.

Gautham Nagesh of Stiff Jab praised Magdaleno for successfully attacking Donaire's body:

"

Magdaleno has done much better body work throughout the fight and he's pounding Donaire to the gut with his left hand in the 8th round.

— Gautham Nagesh (@gnagesh) November 6, 2016"

The ninth round was especially good for Magdaleno, who had Donaire on the ropes following a flurry of punches. BoxNation was looking forward to the end of the fight following the electric three-minute sequence:

Donaire got a handful of power shots in on Magdaleno over the final three rounds, but he was unable to connect with any sequences of punches to truly damage his opponent. Time and again, Magdaleno evaded Donaire's offense and escaped any potential danger.

This is by far the biggest result of Magdaleno's career, and at 24 years old, his stock is on the rise. Beating Donaire is the next step he needed to make to burnish his profile, and he should be in position to command a lucrative bout when he steps in the ring again.

In the other corner, Saturday's loss could be costly for Donaire. He's 33 years old, and in the last three years, he stumbled against Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nicholas Walters and now Magdaleno. Donaire showed he still has impressive punching power, but his lack of mobility was exposed as well.

Having lost the super bantamweight belt, Donaire may struggle to get it back again.

Post-Fight Reaction

"I worked so hard for this. It feels amazing," Magdaleno said, according to USA Today's Bob Velin. "I can't believe I won the title against a guy like him. I don't have words to express how I feel right now."

Donaire argued he was the deserving winner despite what the judges ruled.

"I definitely won the fight," he said, per Rafael. "I thought I got control in the second half of the fight. Losing never crossed my mind. This is unbelievable."

Donaire's trainer, Ismael Salas, concurred: "We got control of the fight in the second half and clearly won the fight."