SPORTS SHORTS 67: DONNIE NIETES FACES PANAMANIAN ORLANDO PENALBA ON APRIL 3
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 27 Feb 2021
Four-division world boxing champion and longest-reigning Filipino titlist Donnie “Ahas” Nietes will face Orlando Penalba on April 3, 2021, as reported by Cebu Daily News, in his ring return in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Penalba, age 27 years of Sona, Panama, is now living in Panama City. He has a record of 10-0 with 2 knockouts. Nietes will clash with Penalba, an orthodox fighter, in a 10-round non-title bout.
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Penalba is a world superflyweight contender rated No. 15 by WBA and No. 13 by WBO. He had his professional debut only on May 18, 2018 defeating countryman Marcos Arrieta by a four-round unanimous decision.
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Penalba is the current holder of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Latino super flyweight title. He won it by beating the much-experienced Venezuelan Keiver Fernandez (21-1-1, 12KOs) via a split decision in February 8th of last year.
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It will be the comeback fight of Nietes after two years of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nietes’ last contest was a split decision win against Japanese Kazuto Ioka, where he grabbed the vacant WBO super flyweight title on New Year’s Eve December 31, 2018 in Macao, China.
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He told CDN that he is not yet sure if his match against Penalba will be a tune-up match or a title eliminator in the super flyweight division. Nietes now has 42 career wins, one defeat, five draws, and 23 wins by knockout.
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Nietes commented on Penalba's fighting style that he is not a fighter and he can handle the young pug. The Panamanian's ability is not as skillful compared to Nietes' previous opponents.
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The Nietes-Penalba fight will be in the undercard of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super featherweight champion Jamel Herring of the United States, who will be defending his title against former IBF featherweight titlist Carl Frampton of the United Kingdom promoted by the Dubai-based MTK Global.
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Nietes is training with Edmund and Edito Villamor, also his former trainers at the closed ALA Boxing Gym, at the newly established Villamor Brothers Boxing Gym in Mandaue City.
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"Prince” Albert Pagara (31-1-0, 23 KOs) will also fight in the undercard. His opponent has yet to be announced.
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Edito Villamor said Nietes showed ageless menacing mode while training. Nietes still has a lot to show in speed and creeping defense.
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The 38-year old Nietes from Murcia, Negros Occidental has a record of 42 victories, one defeat, five draws, and 23 wins by knockout.
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Nietes said he was sparring with younger and bigger boxers, one of them is former WBO Oriental super bantamweight champion Jeo Santisima, his former stablemate at ALA Boxing Gym.
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Nietes hopes to follow the footsteps of former eight-division world champion and pound-for-pound king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao who won the WBA welterweight title even at age 40 over Keith Thurman in 2019.
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Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has beaten Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev en route to being a four-weight world champion, considered by many experts as the pound-for-pound king.
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The Mexican star is targeting to become the first undisputed world super-middleweight champion, and a win over Avni Yildirim would lift him to bigger title fights against WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders and IBF champion Caleb Plant.
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Kyrie Irving would prefer to update NBA's logo which is the silhouette of Jerry West. On Wednesday, he posted on Instagram that the Lakers legend Kobe Bryant should replace West as the league's logo which has been in existence for over five decades.
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An artist was first directed to design it in 1969 and the NBA has never changed it. Irving shared an image of Bryant dribbling a ball laid over the current NBA logo. “Got to happen. I don’t care what anyone says,” posted Irving. “Black kings build this league.”
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The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America. The only two countries in the Southern Hemisphere to have hosted the Summer Olympics are Australia (1956 and 2000) and Brazil (2016).
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The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 computed the sports-related costs for the Summer Games since 1960 to be on average US$5.2 billion and for the Winter Games $3.1 billion. This does not include related infrastructure costs like roads, urban rails, and airports, which often are most expensive than the sports-related costs.
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The most expensive Summer Games were Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 at US$40–44 billion and the most expensive Winter Games were Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 at US$51 billion.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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