NIETES' DREAM TURNS INTO A NIGHTMARE WITH A CONTROVERSIAL DRAW
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 09 Sep 2018
Donnie Nietes' dream of winning his fourth weight division title became a nightmare even if boxing experts saw him getting the advantage over Aston Palicte in their 12 rounds of tussle for the vacant WBO superflyweight title at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
In what looked like a robbery, the judges came out with a very disputable split draw, denying the 36-year-old ALA fighter the world title in the fourth weight category.
Daniel Sandoval of California scored the bout 118-110 for Nietes, Robert Hoyle of Las Vegas had it 116-112 for Palicte, while Max DeLuca of California saw it 114-114 even for the split draw. HBO?s Harold Lederman scored the fight 117-111 for Nietes.
Nietes (41-1-5, 23 KOs) has the edge in CompuBox numbers even if they do not necessarily be the overall basis for judging. Palicte (24-2-1, 20 KOs) has the leverage in age and height but Nietes landed more punches with higher efficiency.
Nietes connected 194 of 523 (37%) total punches, landing 112 of 281 (40%) of his power shots and 82 of 242 (34%) jabs. Palicte released more punches, however less effective. He landed 124 of 830 of his total punches, a meager 15% connection rate, with 89 of 423 (21%) of his power shots hitting the target. He connected 35 jabs at a scanty 9% rate.
Nietes was denied of a victory that would have propelled him to fame like Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire with world titles in four weight classes. The champ called "Snake" became the WBO minimumweight world champion in 2007, the WBO world light-flyweight champion in 2011 and the IBF world flyweight champion in April 2017.
Palicte and Nietes exchanged flurry of punches and endured barrage of solid blows in the fifth and sixth rounds. Nietes advanced and connected inside countering Palicte's brawny fists with his own right hands together with mighty left hooks.
?Of course I won the fight,? Nietes said. ?I?m very disappointed. I deserve the title. I handled his height, I hurt him and I controlled the fight.?
"It was a close fight," said Palicte. "I was the best fighter in the first half of the fight. I threw punches. I landed punches. Towards the end of the fight, he was coming on. I'm ready to do it again."
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