Boxing results, highlights: Vasiliy Lomachenko continues to roll, Nonito Donaire scores body shot knockout

Lomachenko dismantled Commey while Donaire stopped Reymart Gaballo to retain his WBC bantamweight title

On Saturday night, two of the greatest boxers of their era stepped into the ring to edge closer to the kind of massive fights that have been hallmarks of their careers. At Madison Square Garden in New York City, Vasiliy Lomachenko dominated Richard Commey to take a unanimous decision in the main event of a card broadcast on ESPN.

On a Showtime card from Carson, California, Nonito Donaire continued his incredible late-career run with a wicked body shot knockout of Reymart Gaballo. The victory allowed Donaire to maintain his status as WBC bantamweight champion and kept alive his hopes of securing a rematch with former 2019 Fight of the Year dance partner, Naoya Inoue.

It was a great night for well-seasoned fighters, with Lomachenko, 33, and Donaire, 39, both showing they have plenty in the tank and are as dangerous now as they've been at any point in their careers.

Can't get enough boxing and MMA? Get the latest in the world of combat sports from two of the best in the business. Subscribe to Morning Kombat with Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell for the best analysis and in-depth news.

CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday for both events, so be sure to check out the live results and highlights below. 

Results, highlights

• Vasiliy Lomachenko def. Richard Commey via unanimous decision (117-110, 119-108, 119-108)

On ESPN, Lomachenko continued his run to attempt to regain the lightweight championship as he took on Commey. It was a traditional dominant Lomachenko performance as he cruised past Commey to take a wide unanimous decision victory.

Commey was never able to get his offense going in the face of Lomachenko's slick boxing and powerful left hand. Lomachenko's relentless attack caught up to Commey in the seventh round, with a flurry of punches putting Commey on the canvas for the fight's only knockdown.

Lomachenko would beg Commey's corner to step in and save their fighter from any further punishment. Still, the nails-tough Commey continued to try to find any way to be successful against Lomachenko, long one of the top pound-for-pound talents in the sport.

Commey could never find his way to any success, however, as Lomachenko piled up round after round before the judges turned in official scorecards of 117-110, 119-108 and 119-108, all for Lomachenko, who moves one step closer to an opportunity to regain the lightweight championships he lost in an upset to Teofimo Lopez in 2020. Lopez lost those titles two weeks prior when he was on the receiving end of his own shocking upset, losing a clear decision to George Kambosos Jr.

• Nonito Donaire (c) def. Reymart Gaballo via KO, Round 4 to retain the WBC bantamweight title

Nonito Donaire insisted that he was a better fighter at age 39 than he'd been as a younger man winning world titles across multiple weight classes. On Saturday night, he didn't give any reason to doubt his words, successfully defending his WBC bantamweight championship with a brutal body shot knockout of Reymart Gaballo in the fourth round of their Showtime Championship Boxing main event.

Donaire was patient in handling the aggression of his opponent, and fellow Filipino, Gaballo. As Gaballo tried to race to an early lead, Donaire sat back and waited for openings, having to adjust to a gameplan he did not expect from the challenger.

"I've been in this game for such a long time," Donaire said after the fight. "I came in here and there was no feeling out. He came in different from what I thought and my counters weren't working. My left hook wasn't landing. But there's no mercy."

Donaire started to counter Gaballo's jab with right hands over the top in the third round. The attack upstairs led Gaballo to raise his guard just enough to allow a brutal left hook to the liver to close the show in the fourth round.

After the hook landed to Gaballo's body, the challenger stepped back and took a knee. Gaballo attempted to stand back up after waiting on the referee's count, only to immediately wince and return to a knee, bringing the fight to a close and allowing Donaire to maintain his status as the oldest fighter to ever hold a bantamweight world championship.

After the fight, Donaire repeated his desire to rematch Inoue, the man who holds the WBA and IBF bantamweight titles. Inoue beat Donaire in their first clash, a November 2019 meeting in the World Boxing Super Series finals that was the consensus fight of the year.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:28 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Gaballo threw a good two-punch combination but Donaire ripped a heavy right to the body before coming right back to Gaballo's chin. Gaballo started to try to slow things down with his jab but Donaire landed a good body shot and another that forced Gaballo to take a knee. Great shot from Donaire. Gaballo tried to stand up but winced and went back to a knee, resulting in the stoppage. Donaire with the body shot finish! Official result: Nonito Donaire def. Reymart Gaballo via KO, Round 4

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:26 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Nonito Donaire (c) vs. Reymart Gaballo -- Round 4: Donaire landed a great right hand over a jab from Gaballo. Gaballo ran in place a bit to work his legs out before getting back to his jab.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:24 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Donaire landed a good straight right hand but Gaballo ate it well and fired back with his own crisp right hand of his own. Gaballo then began mixing in some good jabs to keep Donaire from advancing into range to land the left hook. Donaire did crack with a few good right hands that landed flush. A big late right from Donaire did seem to buzz Gaballo a bit and may have stolen the round. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Donaire (29-28)

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:21 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Nonito Donaire (c) vs. Reymart Gaballo -- Round 3: Donaire landed a lunging straight right hand early, starting to pick up the timing of the challenger. Still, Gaballo landed a good right hand that caught Donaire cleanly moments later.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:19 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Donaire finally pinned Gaballo to the ropes and whipped a right hand before Gaballo clinched to get out of the situation. Donaire started firing the jab over and over from the outside before following behind with a right hand. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Donaire (19-19)

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:18 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Nonito Donaire (c) vs. Reymart Gaballo -- Round 2: Donaire started to flash his jab a bit more in the early part of the second round and mixing in some feints to try and love Gaballo into power shots. 

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:15 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Gaaballo popped off a good jab as Donaire continued trying to figure out timing and distance in the opening frame. Gaballo landed a few more good punches down the stretch but ducked into a left hook from Donaire. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Gaballo

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:14 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Nonito Donaire (c) vs. Reymart Gaballo -- Round 1: Gaballo came out whipping overhand rights but Donaire was able to slide back out of the way, avoiding any clean shot in the opening moments of the round. Donaire continued to slide effectively making Gaballo miss a wild uppercut and a hook as he looked to unload on the challenger. Gaballo did land a big uppercut but Donaire took it well

[Dec 12, 2021 at 1:08 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Donaire and Gaballo are in the ring for official introductions and we are moments away from the start of this WBC bantamweight title clash on Showtime.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 12:54 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

We now will move on to the main event of Nonito Donaire vs. Reymart Gaballo for Donaire's WBC bantamweight championship.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 12:54 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Crowley gets the deserved unanimous decision, picking up a clear win in a fight where he faced serious adversity early. Great stuff to see a guy pick himself up off the floor and come back to get the win as he took the fight over.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 12:51 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Abdukakhrov and Crowley go the distance, this should be an easy win for Crowley on the cards. Picked himself up off the floor and dominated the fight from round three onward.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 12:46 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Abdukakhrov has done very little offensively down the stretch, continuing to allow Crowley to push the action, land the meaningful strikes, and honestly, to run away with the fight after the second-round knockdown. Outstanding stuff from Crowley.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 12:38 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Abdukakhorov is just getting consistently walked down by Crowley through Round 7, offering little resistance as Crowley presses, pokes and lands clean punches. Crowley doesn't have much power, but he doesn't need it as he's landing nearly at will.

[Dec 12, 2021 at 12:32 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Crowley has looked tremendous since suffering the knockdown by Abdukakhorov, taking over rounds three through five as he's gone to clean boxing to outland his foe.