SPORTS SHORTS 78: DONNIE NIETES FIGHTS EITHER ORLANDO PENALBA OR NORBELTO JIMENEZ IN DUBAI ON APRIL 3
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 13 Mar 2021
Former four-weight world champion Donnie Nietes will climb back to the ring after a two-year hiatus when he faces a still to be determined opponent on April 3 at the Caesar’s Palace in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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"Ahas" will clash with either Panama’s Orlando Penalba or Dominican Republic’s Norbelto Jimenez in a non-title super flyweight fight put up by the MTK Global Promotions in partnership with D4G Promotions and Round 10 Boxing Club.
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His two probable foes are the undefeated Penalba (10-0-0, 2 KOs) age 27 years of Sona, Panama, now living in Panama City, an orthodox fighter, or Jimenez (30-9-5, 16 KOs), age 30 years of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, also an orthodox fighter.
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“There might be changes between Penalba and Jimenez because of the travel difficulties from Panama to Dubai,” Nietes was quoted by BusinessMirror. “It now depends on who can travel there first.”
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Norbelto Jimenez is a more veteran fighter than Penalba, having fought 44 times than Penalba who has only 10 matches. Jimenez is nicknamed "Meneito" from a Spanish dance characterized by the sequencing and repetition of a series of slow and leisurely paced motion.
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Jimenez had his professional debut on February 10, 2010 losing to countryman Juan Gabriel Guzman Pichardo by majority decision. He had four straight losses before he grabbed his first pro win against another Dominican Ruben Vicente by unanimous decision.
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He won the interim World Boxing Council FECARBOX superflyweight title and the vacant World Boxing Association Fedecentro superflyweight title by defeating Mexican Danny Aquino via unanimous decision on March 9, 2013.
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Jimenez also won vacant World Boxing Association Fedelatin superflyweight title by defeating Panamanian Julio Escudero via unanimous decision on June 28, 2014.
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He failed in his first attempt at the world title against Japanese Kohei Kono for the
World Boxing Association world superflyweight title in a split draw on December 31, 2014.
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Jimenez again lost in his second attempt at the world title to the undefeated Khalid Yafai of United Kingdom via unanimous decision for the World Boxing Association world superflyweight title on June 29, 2019.
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His latest fight was a win over Nicaraguan Marvin Solano by unanimous decision on December 17, 2020. Before that, Jimenez had a split draw with Nigerian Aliu Bamidele Lasisi for the World Boxing Council international superflyweight title.
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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. Penalba is the current holder of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Latino super flyweight title.
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Nietes said he maintains his good condition for the coming fight no matter who his opponent is. He spars with former ALA stablemates Jeo Santisima and KJ Kataraja at the Villamor Brothers boxing gym under Edmund Villamor in Cebu.
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“I haven’t stopped training since my last fight so I am confident I can pull off this victory,” said the longest reigning Filipino world champion. His last fight was in December 31, 2018 in Macau where he defeated Japanese Kazuto Ioka by split decision for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight title.
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“I requested the MTK Global to send me to Dubai two weeks before the fight so I can acclimatize,” added Nietes (42-1-5, 23 KOs). “Right now, I am also completing my travel documents.”
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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. The Maasin, Southern Leyte born fighter has also signed up with MTK Global Promotions and D4G Promotions based in Dubai.
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Eddie Hearn disclosed that an announcement over the fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury is “days away” and has proposed it might possibly take place in Las Vegas, Nevada per Boxing Scene.
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“I think we are days away,” Hearn said. “I know I have said that two and five weeks ago, but we are days away from giving everyone some good news." Bob Arum said the contract is agreed and Hearn confirmed it. The next process is securing the venue and the site deal and that is on-going.
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Hearn also said they want to make the fight in June or early July because they want to do two this year. Saudi Arabia, the venue where Joshua beat Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019, was generally considered as the most likely venue, Hearn insists that six or seven options are on the table.
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These include the United States, China, Singapore, other nations in the Middle East and the UK, although the last seems unlikely. Hearn was hesitant to have it in UK. The only way it could possibly be done in the UK is if they can get 100,000 people in Wembley and that is almost impossible at the present pandemic.
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Hearn said America has opened up as an option, with the Dallas Cowboys home stadium about having 70,000 for Canelo-Saunders fight. He thinks Las Vegas will open up to 50 percent capacity, and if they could have 100 percent attendance by July they will need something monstrous to bring the people back.
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Kawhi Leonard scored 28 points with 10-for-17 shooting, and the Los Angeles Clippers dominated the visiting Golden State Warriors, 130-104 on Thursday night. Paul George finished with 17 points for Los Angeles, which snapped a three-game losing streak in its return from the NBA All-Star break.
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Serge Ibaka added 16 points and 14 rebounds. Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 15 points each for Golden State. Stephen Curry added 14 points with 6-for-16 shooting, including 1-for-8 from 3-point area, as the Warriors lost their season-high fourth successive game.
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USA Basketball released a list of 57 players who are part of the pool to fill the team that will play in the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. Among the list are 15 players who have been Olympic gold medalists for the U.S., including three-time gold winner LeBron James and two-time gold medalists Kevin Durant and Chris Paul.
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The other former gold medalists listed for the slots are Harrison Barnes, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, Draymond Green, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Jordan, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, and Russell Westbrook.
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Some NBA superstars who have not won an Olympic gold, like Kawhi Leonard who said this week he wants to play this Olympics, and Stephen Curry who said he would love the opportunity to compete in the Summer Games. Curry has won a gold medal in a Basketball World Cup, but never on Olympic basjetball.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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