Donnie“Ahas” Nietes had always wanted to fight before his hometown fans in Bacolod City ever since he won the WBO minimum weight title and had to defend his crown against Mexican challengers in their hometowns in Mexico.
When Nietes decided to relinquish his title and move up to junior flyweight, and WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel promised ALA Promotions patron Tony Aldeguer and president Michael Aldeguer that he would give Nietes a shot at the reigning 108-pound champion Ramon “Principe” Garcia Hirales, Nietes pleaded for a chance to fight before his hometown fans.
Thanks to the joint efforts of the Aldeguer father-and-son tandem and ABS-CBN, the costly enterprise of staging a world title fight saw fruition and the people of Negros had a chance to celebrate the privilege of playing host to a world title fight which was a first in the history of Bacolod.
Nietes, feeding off the roar of the fans, made one super-human effort in the 11th round to re-establish his superiority of the early rounds and arrest his apparent tiredness.
He dug deep within to reassert himself in that round and rode the momentum until the final bell and victory was within his grasp.
Manila boxing writers Roy Luarca, Nick Giongco and Abac Cordero agreed with our observation that the fight was certainly much closer than American judges Liza Giampa (118-110) and Carlos Ortiz (117-111) saw it.
In a sense, we were proud that Filipino judge Danrex Tapdasan reinforced our commitment against hometown decisions with a 115-113 scorecard that truly reflected the closeness of the bout.
The trainer of Garcia Hirales, Prof. Leo Camacho, who teaches ethics, values and history, was gracious in defeat and praised Filipino boxing fans who came out in droves to support Nietes, who is from nearby Murcia.
Camacho also praised Nietes and the Filipino people who had treated them so well both in Cebu and Bacolod. But he refused to accept the scorecards of Giampa and Ortiz as anything but biased.
Camacho, however, made it clear, he was not blaming Nietes, the promoters or the Filipino fans.
It may not have been the greatest world title fight but the fans who packed the University of St. La Salle Gymnasium enjoyed every moment of the fight card. It showed that outfits such as ALA Promotions and the Lopez-owned network are capable of putting on a world class event.
The fans were ecstatic over the crowning of another Filipino world champion in Donnie Nietes, who fulfilled a cherished dream of fighting before his hometown fans and winning a second world title.
It could not have happened to a nicer human being.