NIETES READY FOR BATTLE
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 07 Aug 2010
LOS ANGELES ? WBO Minimumweight Champion Donnie 'Ahas' Nietes's preparation and conditioning for his next title defense has gone down to a few more days before taking on challenger Mario 'El Dragoncito' Rodriguez of Mexico at Luis Estrada Medina Stadium in Guasave, Sinaloa on August 14.
Arriving here Saturday last week primarily to attune himself to the American time zone, Nietes and trainer Edmund Villamor, at exactly 11 am everyday, routinely take 3rd St from their Kenmore apartment heading west then turn right at Rossmore Ave straight to Vine St where the famous Wildcard Card Gym of Freddie Roach is located.
Nietes has been tapering off his training and this Friday morning, Nietes has only done a few rounds of mitts work with Villamor. However, the intensity, the quickness, the sharpness and the power of Nietes' punches when they hit the mitts where quite evident as he stood out in a gym full boxers who were also doing their regular training regimen. The months of preparation has now spread out to the body of Donnie Nietes like a pent-up volcano.
?Nagpanikad (ready to be unleashed),? the humble Nietes says with quiet confidence.
?He's ready for battle,? Villamor joined in.
?I like him and I like his style,? Vince Parra, who is now managing and co-training Filipino lightweight prospect Mercito Gesta says of Nietes. ?He reminds me very much of [former WBO bantamweight champion] Cruz Carbajal in his prime who I trained before. The way he uses his footwork, he is always ready to unleash those power shots and that is very difficult to do. His style is very different from the Filipino fighters that I saw.?
Nietes will do more light training until he breaks camp on Tuesday.
ALA Promotions Vice-President Dennis Canete and ALA chief trainer Edito Villamor are expected to hit LA Friday night. Together with Philboxing's Dr Ed de la Vega who will act as cutman and this writer, Team Nietes will depart for Mexico on Wednesday in time for the press conference and other official functions.
The Niestes vs Rodriguez world championship fight is being jointly promoted by Erik Morales' Box Latino, Sampson Boxing LLC and ALA Promotions.
Nietes works on the mitts with trainer Edmund Villamor (top photo) and shadow boxes (above) at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles on Friday. Photos by Dong Secuya.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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