Nietes as Ancajas Challenger, Why Not?
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 03 Sep 2019
The third all Filipino world boxing championship bout this new millennium, and only the fourth since Pancho Villa fought Clever Sencio in Manila in 1924, will happen this weekend at the Jurado Hall of the Philippine Marine Corps in Taguig City.
It will pit Samuel Salva against Pedro Taduran for the IBF minimumweight title left vacant by South Africa's Deejay Kriel who has opted to move up in weight rather than defend it against his supposed mandatory challenger Salva.
It will only be the second all Pinoy world title fight to be held in the Philippines, the first being that of Villa (Francisco Gilledo in real life) versus Clever Sencio (Inocencio Moldes) almost a century ago.
The only other all Pinoy world title fights on record were those between IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas successfully defending against Jonas Sultan and Donnie Ahas Nietes and Aston Palicte fighting to a controversial draw for the then vacant WBO super flyweight title but they were held in the United States.
To be historically accurate, there are other all Filipino bouts for world boxing championships as recognized by American state commissions back in the pre war era as those fought by Little Dado (Eleuterio Zapanta), Small Montana (Benjamin Gan) and Speedy Dado (Diosdado Posadas) in the bantamweight class in the USA. But they are either not well known and/or widely acknowledged as for the real or legitimate world titles.
Inasmuch as all Filipino world championships are getting more acceptance and are welcomed at home despite the generally unsavory results of the previous Ancajas-Sultan and Nietes-Palicte bouts, an idea has come up this time involving a possible Ancajas vs Nietes fight for Jerwin's IBF title on the line.
The matchup makes sense.
Ancajas at present is having a hard time securing a known and viable challenger for his next title defense. He was first reported to be fighting former WBC titlist Carlos Cuadras of Mexico but talks fell through. Then came news that Francisco Estrada was interested in unification but nothing came out next. Andrew Moloney of Australia also squashed a possible meeting with Jerwin. Last reported title challenger was the little known Miguel Angel Gonzales of Chile but talks also failed.
On the other hand, Nietes has not returned to the ring since beating Japan's Kazuto Ioka for the then vacant WBO super flyweight crown on New Year's Eve 2018.
Nietes chose to vacate the WBO throne than fight Palicte once again in its defense. Aston had earlier earned the mandatory challenger status by knocking out Jose Martinez in a title eliminator. Curiously, Martinez had fought to successive draws against Santiago Barrios who held Ancajas to a fighting draw in Jerwin's past title defense.
As a result, the WBO ordered a fight between Palicte and Ioka for the title vacated by Nietes with the Japanese winning it by late round technical knockout over Aston in Japan.
Also with no viable opponent willing to fight him, Nietes was forced into this lengthy hiatus. But it came with a heavy price as the Ring Magazine recently dropped him from its top pound for pound fighters list.
Senator Manny Pacquiao took his place at number ten in the Ring ranking.
The idea of Nietes fighting Ioka again for the same title he himself won over the same Japanese and later vacated to avoid fighting Palicte a second time certainly looked preposterous. As one wag said, it would look like a dog getting back to eat his own vomit.
With both Ancajas and Nietes looking desperately for viable and well known opponents, it makes sense to pit them in another all Filipino world boxing championship bout that promises elite action, either here or abroad.
Any takers?
The author Teodoro Medina?Reynoso?is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines.?? He can be reached at?teddyreynoso@yahoo.com?and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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