THE REASONS BEHIND THE ?UNUSUAL EVENTS? AT THE NIETES TITLE DEFENSE AT GUASAVE
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 17 Aug 2010
Los Angeles, CA. To begin with, Donnie Nietes indeed deserves all the praises for his heady and gutsy performance last Saturday night at Guasave, Mexico. It was a tough fight but it defined Nietes as a fighter. Truly, he deserves being the champion!
Although the report of Ronnie Nathanielsz (http://philboxing.com/news/story-42714)
is mostly accurate and for all intents and purposes suggest nothing fishy, in all fairness I have to write this story to clarify what was said in the report. Modesty aside, I was there at Guasave and I have first hand knowledge of the issues.
The urine test.:- While it was mandatory to do urine tests particularly in title fights, the local Commissioner supervising the fight gave both camps the options regarding the urine tests. Apparently, it will cost Two Thousand ($2,000.00) dollars to perform the tests in a clinical lab accredited by the Commission. Thus, both camps decided that they would forgo it. The purse they received for the fight, although reasonable was not gigantic so $2000.00 if deducted from it will cut a huge chunk from the net gain of the boxers.
Sampson Lewkowicz, the co-promoter put it up so succinctly at the ?Rules Meeting?. He said, both Rodriguez and Nietes are honest kids and so are their handlers. Therefore, in the spirit of ?mutual trust for each other?, forgoing the tests will be acceptable as long as both camps agree and the Commission approves it. They did.
Both camps agreed to forego the tests, but that does not mean to say that the Nietes camp gave up the right to insist that the tests be done in his succeeding fights. In fact it was Team Nietes who initially requested that it be done. But, as previously mentioned, ?in the spirit of mutual trust? they also agreed not to have it done for this fight only.
While it was evident that Rodiruez was battered all over the ring in the first 8 rounds and suddenly gain a ?second wind? in round 9, this writer who was at ring side could not attribute that to any performance enhancing drugs.
Admittedly no post tests were given so my conclusion could be flawed. But, I honestly think that the so-called Rodriguez ?second wind? was not what it was conceived to be. It was more of Nietes running out of gas than Rodriguez getting a second wind. As everyone might have noticed, he too was so weak that he could not put down a drained Nietes. And, the crowd was clearly behind him suddenly came alive. That alone could have fueled the performance of Rodriguez. He was a local boy too so he is acclimated to fight in that arena.
When Nietes faded, it was because of the terrible heat and not lack of training. For one to understand that, one must be at the venue and experience first hand the tremendous heat.
It was so hot that even my underwear was soaked! It must have been 110 degrees at ring side and with the overhead lights shinning brightly for TV, it could easily be 120 degrees on top of the ring.
There was also an issue which in the heat of battle we failed to point out to the referee. The Rodriguez camp had a 16 inch electric fan at ring side. The same fan was in his dressing room. Nothing was provided for us. We have photos to prove that.
We have to give credit to referee Raul Caiz Sr., for being so understanding in not penalizing both camps for excessive use of water which contributed to the ring canvas being excessively wet and the fight interrupted several times to allow the ringside crew to mop it dry. I have never poured so much iced-water on a fighter before. Those at ring side saw that Nietes? trunks were dripping wet every time he stood to begin another round. Rodriguez had the same so no one complained.
Incidentally, the stool given for us was non-functional. The seat was not screwed to the metal base. Thus we had to use a plastic chair I swiped from the ringside area.
The fight gloves:- While it was true that they were used and not the brand new Cleto Reyes Gloves requested by the Nietes camp, it was too late in the game when we found out about them. At the rules meeting, we were assured that the gloves are coming in time from Mexico City. But they never came. We were not handed the gloves until after the fighter?s hands were wrapped. We could not complain or refuse to fight either. Nothing in the rule book specifies the use of Cleto Reyes gloves.
Highly unusual? Yes. But I do not think, it was a deliberate attempt to negate the punching power of Nietes. It was more for economic reasons. We checked both pairs of gloves and we had the first choice to pick which pairs we wanted. Besides, both fighters used the same brand.
The gloves were provided by a Mexican sponsor (Seyer). We found out later it was them who requested that they be use in all the fights for the fight card. For a fight card with such a low budget, I am sure the promoters would not dare go against the wishes of the sponsor. Unfortunately, they only provided a few pairs and there were several fights in the fight card that night. For what ever it is worth, I did not see any other brand that night.
Finally, having been involved with several fights in Mexico, I now learned to advise the Team I go with to take the most of what they can in a fight. There will be lots of things and incidents that may seem to be unfair. But that happens anywhere in the world, thus they must be smart and take everything they can. As they say in the vernacular: ?utakan lang yan?.
Who is best in ?utakan?? The Pinoys of course. Thus we adapt instead of complain.
Top photo: Mario Rodriguez (in blue trunks) slips to the wet canvas during his fight with defending champion Donnie Nietes Saturday in Sinaloa.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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