NIETES #7, CONDES #4 STRAWWEIGHT IN LATEST RING MAGAZINE RANKINGS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Donnie ?Ahas? Nietes may have successfully defended his World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight title by knocking down Mexican Erik Ramirez four times en route to a unanimous decision win on February 28, 2009. But the current Ring Magazine rankings maintained him at No. 7 in the strawweight category.
This is per latest Ring Magazine ratings as of March 8, 2009. On the other hand, defeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight titlist Florante Condes is ranked No.4 by the prestigious magazine known as ?The Bible of Boxing.?
After more than 11 months of inactivity, Condes finally defended his title. Unfortunately, he lost his crown to undefeated Mexican Raul Garcia via twelve-round split decision in La Paz, Mexico, despite scoring a knockdown in the final round. IBF champion Garcia is currently ranked No. 2 in The Ring ratings.
Condes won the IBF minimumweight title by a victory over Muhammad Rachman in Jakarta, Indonesia. He knocked the hometown hero Rachman down twice, in the 3rd round and in the 10th round. Even if Rachman kissed the canvas twice, still the decision was split, with the Indonesian judge favoring Rachman.
After winning the IBF title, Condes surged to No. 3 spot in The Ring ratings. But he slid down to No. 4 after losing the title to Garcia in another controversial split decision. Apparently, The Ring recognized Condes? performances and did not reduce considerably his standing in the latest ratings.
Rachman, Milan Melindo?s next foe in the card dubbed as ?Judgement at the Waterfront? on March 14, 2009, is ranked No. 5 ahead of Nietes in The Ring ratings. Rachman fought only once since the Condes loss, winning a decision over Filipino Edren Dapudong last June.
The Ring Magazine champion is vacant in the 105-lb division. At No. 1 is Nicaraguan Roman Gonzales who fought also in the Nietes-Ramirez card, but having a hard time beating his opponent. Gonzales, who at present is the World Boxing Association champion of his weight class, settled for majority decision over Mexican Francisco Rosas.
At No. 4 is another undefeated boxer Oleydong Sithsamerchai of Thailand, the current World Boxing Council (WBC) champion. At No. 6 is Japanese Katsunari Takayama, at No. 8 is South African Nkosinathi Joyi, at No. 9 is another Nicaraguan Juan Palacios, and at No. 10 is Colombian Ronald Barrera.
The minimumweight, strawweight or mini-flyweight, where boxers are limited up to 105 lbs., is a rather new weight category for professionals boxers first launched by the major sanctioning bodies between 1987 and 1990. The Ring Ratings are compiled by the highly-esteemed magazine's editorial board, with the participation of The Ring Ratings Panel of expert boxing journalists from all over the world.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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