NIETES TO DEFEND IBF FLYWEIGHT TITLE IN NOVEMBER
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Sep 2017
Donnie "Ahas" Nietes (40-1-4, 22 KOs) fought his debut as a flyweight in September last year with a twelve-round convincing unanimous decision win over former champion Edgar Sosa. He was crowned as a flyweight titleholder last April after he battered Komgrich Nantapech for the IBF title belt relinquished by Johnriel Casimero who moved up in weight. The longest reigning Filipino champion?s first defense is scheduled to happen in November against a mandatory challenger.
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?We are looking at November for Donnie as his next fight will be a mandatory. Juan Carlos Reveco (rated No. 3 by the IBF) and Komgrich Nantapech (No. 4 contender) will be fighting on September 8 to determine who the mandatory challenger to Donnie will be,? said Michael Aldeguer, ALA President and CEO as told to BoxingScene.com.
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Nietes abandoned the light flyweight division and rose to the flyweight category to catch the elite fighters for potential big money fights that has long eluded the 35-year-old champ. But the increase in weight was bad timing for Nietes since practically all topnotch fighters whom he targeted are now campaigning at the super flyweight class.
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?Our goal is to have Donnie fight the bigger names at 112. We originally wanted to go after Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez but both moved up to the 115-pound division. We will see what?s next for Donnie after the mandatory fight in November,? added Aldeguer.
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Superstars Roman Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada, Naoya Inoue, Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai are all boxing at one level higher which leads to the theory of Nietes catching up with them at the supeflyweight category. Aldeguer's reply is that it is not the priority for Nietes. ?Donnie will stay at 112 pounds for now as he may be too small for 115,? said the ALA boss.
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Nietes is a four-time world champion in three weight classes, having previously held the WBO and The Ring light flyweight titles and the WBO minimumweight title. He is the longest-reigning Filipino boxing world champion for 10 years and 8 months and still increasing, as of 2014 he broke the record set by Boxing Hall of Fame Gabriel "Flash" Elorde in 1967. The Murcia, Negros Occidental fighter is currently ranked second byThe Ring, second by theTransnational Boxing Rankings Board, and first by BoxRec in the flyweight division.
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"Donnie got his nickname 'Ahas' when he was a utility boy at the ALA Gym. One of his daily chores was to clean the snake pit with five big pythons and he was the only man with the guts to do it. He was bitten several times. But once he befriended the snakes, he was never bitten again. One day, a snake laid 11 eggs but only one survived. Donnie took care of that snake and he still does to this day. That's how he got his nickname," said Antonio Aldeguer in an interview.
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Saul "Canelo" Alvarez saw the Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor fight and observed that Mayweather's tactics did not resemble a "Mexican style." He thinks Mayweather came forward because McGregor was only on his professional boxing debut and was severely outclassed in the fight.
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"He did what he wanted in the fight. I think Mayweather did what he had to do, go forward because he knew he was going to knock McGregor out and that's what he did; But I saw no Mexican style in there. Mexican boxing does not have a style in itself, Mexican boxing has different styles," Canelo was quoted by Boxing Scene.
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Canelo promises a real fight on September 16 when he will fight at the full middleweight limit when he challenges IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC world champion Gennady Golovkin. "This fight is for real... two boxers, an authentic fight, one that people have waited on for a long time. The other was more a show," Canelo said. "The fans are going to see a great fight, a natural fight, it's going to be a great fight because of the styles. I'm going to give my best, I hope GGG gets the best out of me to have a great fight."
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WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn has agreed to a title defense against former two division world champion Jessie Vargas after Manny Pacquiao's decision to postpone their rematch until next year. "Yeah, Jessie Vargas is a fight that we'd definitely take. He's a tough competitor and he's been world champion, he's held my belt just before Pacquiao, so he'd definitely be a tough fight and worthy opponent," Horn explained.
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Pacquiao wants the Horn rematch to happen here in the Philippines. "It will not push through there in Australia, but we are bringing the fight here in the Philippines," Pacquiao announced it on radio station DZBB. He said that negotiations are ongoing to find financers for the fight. "This will be good for our country's tourism. We have lots of friends who are supporting us including our tourism department. The president is giving his all-out support," Pacquiao added.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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