MASAM SPORTS 68: WINNING BACK WORLD TITLE IS A TALL ORDER FOR DONNIE NIETES
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 17 Jul 2022
Donnie Nietes will rebound from his disappointing loss to Japanese boxing hero Kazuto Ioka and is eyeing another shot at the super flyweight crown. Ioka successfully defended his WBO junior bantamweight title, and exacted revenge from his split decision loss in 2018 and won a 12-round unanimous decision against Nietes at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. The official scores were 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111.
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Ioka and Nietes are both four-weight world champions. Ioka is WBO super-flyweight champion and was WBA flyweight champion, WBA (Regular) light-flyweight champion and WBC mini-flyweight champion. Nietes was WBO minimumweight champion, WBO light flyweight champion, IBF flyweight champion and WBO super flyweight champion.
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The 40-year-old Nietes humbly accepted his defeat but says he still has plenty of gas left in his tank. He plans to fight back for another title crack. "I lost the fight on points, and I felt that Ioka did not want to try and deliver a knockout win for his fans and was just happy to win the fight on the scorecards,” Nietes was quoted by Probellum.com
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“I was not able to put as much pressure on Ioka as I would have liked. I was waiting for Ioka to move in and throw his shots, so that I could hit him with my big counters, but it didn’t happen often enough. I was defeated but, without question, I can still fight for word titles again.”
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Nietes dreamed of joining an elite group of fighters who won world titles in their 40s. "There is no doubt in my mind that I can challenge once again, and I see myself probably having one or two more fights at world level before I hang up my gloves inside the ring," Nietes added.
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Nietes suffered his first setback, a controversial split decision loss to Indonesian Angky Angkota in September 2004 at the RCTI Studios in Jakarta, Indonesia. Since then he won 32 fights and drew 5 times before bowing to Ioka. In his 51 total fights, he has 43 wins, 23 by KO, 2 losses, and 6 draws.
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But winning the superflyweight title back is a tall order for Nietes, at least in his present age. The WBA champion Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada is much younger at 32, and has a record of 42–3 (28 KOs). The WBC champion American Jesse Rodríguez is aged 22 and is undefeated at 16–0 (11 KOs). The IBF champion Argentine Fernando Martínez, aged 30 is also undefeated at 14–0 (8 KOs). A third match with Ioka, aged 33, with 29–2 (15 KOs) is not feasible.
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The fastest foul out in NBA history was 2 Minutes, 43 Seconds by Bubba Wells. This sensational feat was achieved by fouling Dennis Rodman in 1997 when the Chicago Bulls hosted the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas coach Don Nelson tried to defend a staggering Bulls attack by constantly fouling The Worm.
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Wells fouled Rodman, on the average of every 27 seconds in this game. Rodman went to the free throw twelves times and even if he was a very low 55 percent free-throw shooter in the 1997-98 season, he converted a career-high equalizer nine free throws against the Mavericks.
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The clamor for Gilas Philipinas coach Chot Reyes’ resignation was getting more intense after the Philippines lost its FIBA Asia Cup opening game with a 95-80, a 15-point loss to Lebanon, a team who ranked lower in the FIBA world ranking in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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“I’m just keeping myself focused on the big picture and the big picture is to make sure that we put together the best team for the world championships in 2023,” Reyes was quoted by Inquirer Sports after their 101-59 route over India on Friday, July 15.
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Gilas will play their last Group D match against New Zealand on Sunday at 9 p.m. (Manila time). The Philippines improved to a 1-1 record, which qualifies them for the next round of the Asian Cup.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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