NIETES BREAKS ELORDE'S RECORD AS PH LONGEST REIGNING WORLD CHAMP
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 01 Jan 2015
CEBU ? On September 30, 2007 at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Cebu City, Negros Occidental native Donnie Nietes, then 25, captured the vacant WBO minimumweight title against Pornsawan Porpramook of Thailand. Nietes successfully defended the title four times before he wrested the WBO light flyweight title against Ramon Garcia Hirales in Bacolod City on October 8, 2011 and defended it successfully five times.
Today, January 1, 2015, Nietes has been wold champion for 7 years, 3 months and 1 day and counting, effectively breaking the record of legendary Filipino boxer Gabriel 'Flash' Elorde who reigned as world junior lightweight champion for 7 years and 3 months from March 16, 1960 until June 15, 1967.
Nietes thus joined a hallowed list of Filipino boxing greats whose names will forever be remembered in the annals of Philippine boxing history.
Nietes's exploits include capturing the RING light flyweight lineal title, only the 10th Filipino boxer to win a lineal title, acclaimed as the best in its weight class. The others were Francisco Guilledo (Pancho Villa), Dado Marino, Flash Elorde, Ben Villaflor, Erbito Salavarria, Frank Cedeno, Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire Jr and Sonny Boy Jaro.
Nietes (L) stops Moises Fuentes in the 9th round during their rematch on May 10, 2014 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila.
Nietes successfully defends his title against Mario Rodriguez in Guasave, Mexico.
Nietes (L) connects against Garcia-Hirales en route to capturing the WBO light flyweigh title on Oct. 8, 2011 in Bacolod City.
Nietes, 32, carries an impressive resume of 34 wins, 1 loss and 4 draws with 20 knockouts. He defeated six opponents who were former or future world champions in Pornsawan Porpramook, Manuel Vargas, Jesus Silvestre, Mario Rodriguez, Ramon Garcia Hirales and Moises Fuentes. Nietes successfully defended his WBO minimumweight title four times and his WBO light flyweight title five times. He also successfully defended his title three times inside enemy territory in Mexico against Erik Ramirez (Oaxaca, Feb 2009), Manuel Vargas (Nayarit, Sep 2009) and Mario Rodriguez (Guasave, Aug 2010). His only loss was against Anky Angkota of Indonesia in a questionable split decision verdict where Angkota came in 6 lbs over the weight limit at Angkota's backyard in Jakarta on Sep. 28, 2004.
Nietes was born into a family of boxers in Murcia, Negros Occidental, an adjacent town to the province's capital, Bacolod City, in central Philippines. He turned pro at 21 years old on April 23, 2003 after working as a utility at the famed ALA Gym of Cebu and won his first fight against Walter Suaybaguio in San Fernando, Cebu.
Not a flashy boxer, Nietes, who goes by the moniker 'Ahas' (snake) and who trains under Edmund Villamor, is sleek and employ good defense in addition to his accurate counter-punching ability and has a knack to find a way to win in close contests. These attributes allowed him to win or get a draw in tight battles that sometimes go unpopular with the audience, a theme that is present in many of his championship bouts including his close decision wins against Porpramook, Ramirez, Vargas, Garcia-Hirales, Salguero and most notably his draw with Moises Fuentes in their first fight. Nietes however, stopped Fuentes in the 9th round during their rematch in May last year, arguably the most impressive win of his career.
Nietes carries his pet snake during his ring entrance against Carlos Velarde on Nov. 15, 2014 at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City.
Photos by Dong Secuya / PhilBoxing.com.
Humble and reserved ? and with his passive boxing style, Nietes, although he has now accumulated a highly veritable resume, still failed to penetrate a wider audience and his fan base remain mostly at home and with the hardcore boxing fans. But in his recent fights, Nietes has shown great maturity in the ring and is now looking for more defining fights in his career.
His team has previously disclosed that Nietes will shortly move up in weight and will seek to challenge the elites of the flyweight division including pound for pound fighter and WBC champion Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua, WBO/WBA champion Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico and the winner of the IBF championship fight between defending champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand and Chinese star Zou Shiming scheduled on March 7 in Macau.
Yes, Nietes broke Elorde's record but it remains to be seen if he can become a real star.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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