THE SNAKE ESCAPES: “AHAS” NIETES RETAINS TITLE VIA SPLIT DECISION IN MEXICO
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 14 Sep 2009
Donnie “Ahas” Nietes defied the odds and conventional thinking and won by split decision over Mexican challenger Manuel “Chango” Vargas in Nayarit, Mexico.
It was a hard fought and close battle. There were moments when the title seemed to be slipping away from his hands. Champion or not, close fights are supposed to go to the hometown fighter.
Nietes used his jab and defense to fend off Vargas' early onslaught. But the challenger was relentless with his body attack. Vargas also managed to catch Nietes with good head shots as the fight wore on.
The fight was fought mostly at close quarters. It was Vargas who landed the harder shots. But Nietes continued to counter everything Vargas threw at him. This was now a battle of technical attrition and as to who wanted it more. A low blow in the ninth had Nietes hurt and halted the action.
Nietes must have felt his title slipping away at this point and staged a rally.The Snake of the ALA gym showed the heart of a champion. He outworked Vargas in the final two rounds and boxed behind an effective left jab.
The scorecards read – 116-112 Vargas and 116-110 and 118-110 for Nietes. I had it much closer but Nietes' late rally was the clincher. Together with stablemate Z Gorres who stopped veteran Cruz Carbajal in the 6th, they scored a rare twin victory in Mexico. The 27 year old Nietes’ record is now 25 W-1 L-3 D with 14 KO’s. This is his second straight win in Mexico and his third successful title defense.
He may not do anything spectacular but Nietes does a lot of things well. But the best thing he does is win.
WBO minimumweight champion Donnie Nietes of the Philippines celebrates after being declared winner during Saturday night's fight with Interim champion Manual Vargas of Mexico at the El Palenque de la Feria in Tepic, Nayarit. Photo by Reiver Rodriguez.
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