OFFICIALS FOR NIETES-RODRIGUEZ TITLE FIGHT HAVE ARRIVED
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 14 Aug 2010
GUASAVE ? The WBO officials for Donnie Nietes's title defense tomorrow night (Sunday morning in Manila) against local boy Mario Rodriguez have arrived into this subdued town with a population of less than 100,000.
Supervisor is Rafael Lopez Santos of Mexico City, the third man in the ring is Raul Caiz Sr of West Covina, CA and the judges are Levi Martinez of New Mexico, USA, Alejandro Lopez of Mexico City and Thomas Nardone of Florida, USA.
The veteran Raul Caiz, whose career as ring official spanned 24 years, last refereed during the Andre Ward vs Allan Green WBA super middleweight title fight in Oakland, CA last June. His most recent high profile outings included the Maidana-Ortiz and the Mosley-Margarito fights of 2009 and the Vargas-Mayorga fight in 2007. Caiz is the father of Raul Jr who is also making a name for himself as a referee and a judge.
Levi Matinez of New Mexico, USA is also another veteran ring official who started judging fights in 1993. His last assignment was for the WBA welterweight title fight between Viacheslav Senchenko and Charlie Jose Navarro in Donetsk, Ukraine on Aug. 30 this year.
Alejandro Lopez of Mexico City is an 8-year veteran judge who sit as a judge in the Johnriel Casimero vs Ramon Garcia Hirales fight last July in Los Monchis, Richie Mepranum vs Julio Cesar Miranda in Puebla last June and the Ulises Solis vs Bert Batawang second fight in Baja California on March 27 this year. Unfortunately for the Filipino fighters in these fights, they all lost.
Thomas Nardone of Florida, USA last sit as a judge in the Saul Alvarez vs Luciano Lionel Cuello WBC Silver light middleweight battle in Guadalajara, Mexico on July 7, 2010. More importantly, Nardone was also one of the judges during Nietes's last outing in Mexico against Manuel Vargas in Nayarit which Nietes won by split decision. Nardone scored that bout in Nietes's favor 118-110.
Official weighin will be at 1:30 p.m. local time Friday while undercard bouts start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Auditorio Luis Estrada Medina here in Guasave.
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