NIETES MORE COMFORTABLE AT FLYWEIGHT
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 12 Aug 2016
The Philippines' longest reigning world champion Donnie 'Ahas' Nietes is more comfortable training at his new weight, the flyweight 112 lbs division, this was revealed by his trainer Edmund Villamor.
"He (Donnie) is normally at 120-125 lbs now. Making the 108 lbs limit takes more effort from him than the flyweight," Villamor said.
Nietes has decided to leave the junior flyweight division which he dominated since 2011 with nine successful defenses of his WBO world title belt with the last one was a fifth round stoppage over former world champion Raul 'Rayito' Garcia of Mexico in Bacolod City last May. Before that Nietes held the WBO minimumweight title for three years.
Nietes has targeted WBA/WBO flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada for his flyweight debut but settles against former world champion Edgar Sosa after Estrada was mandated by the WBA to face Kazuto Ioka of Japan in a mandatory defense.
Nietes is excited at his new weight and reported earlier than usual in training camp and has so far logged two weeks of sparring.
"Donnie wanted to start training early, which is better for us, because this goes to show he is looking forward for his new challenge and will fight not just to win, but to give a great show," Villamor said. "This will surely be a tough fight, but something the fans will enjoy because both fighters want to prove something. For Donnie, that he has the skills to possibly dominate another weight division while Sosa is fighting for a comeback," Villamor added.
The Nietes-Sosa bout, with the WBO Inter-continental flyweight title at stake, will headline ALA Promotions International?s third US event at the Stubhub Center, in Carson, CA on September 24 in partnership with the Philippines' biggest network, ABS-CBN and TFC (The Filipino Channel).
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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