Donnie Nietes after his fifth round TKO win. Photo by Roy Luarca
THERE were calls Sunday morning checking on the results of three Filipino boxers, stars of the famous ALA Stable of Cebu, with great concern about Donnie Nietes, who vacated his WBO 108-pound throne to campaign in the full flyweight (112 lb) division.
“What happened to Nietes?” asked veteran news correspondent Jun Velasco from Dagupan City.
He won.
“No. Did he win by knockout?” Velasco tried to clarify.
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Glowing reports from ringside at StubHub Center in Carson, California, said Nietes conducted a boxing clinic in dominating former world champion Edgar Sosa of Mexico.
Nietes, a legend of sorts who has registered the longest reign by a Filipino world boxing champion, won by sparkling unanimous decision.
However, Filipino fans were not exactly unanimous in celebrating the Nietes victory, one of three scored by the ALA mainstays.
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“King” Arthur Villanueva, one-time world challenger, stopped Mexico’s Juan Ramirez of Mexico with a bomb of a right cross to the jaw close to the end of the second round to keep his WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight crown.
Unbeaten featherweight prospect Mark Magpayo scored a magnificent 12-round unanimous decision against another Mexican to continue his shining march toward a possible world title challenge.
Together with the Nietes victory, it was a perfect three-for-three for the ALA Stable stars.
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The Nietes victory was a bit perplexing.
The first thing avid Pinoy fight fans had wanted to know was whether Nietes could become a more compelling combatant as a full flyweight, after he has been freed from the limits and shackles of the official weighing scales.
Would he be able to pack enough power away from his 108 lb kingdom, where he often scored wins through his cute but tentative penny-punching ways?
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Well, it could not be openly claimed Nietes had fallen short of the target.
In fact, there were those who readily claimed this was the start of something great for Nietes, who supposedly started an invasion of the flyweight class with that routine decision victory.
What’s rather hard to believe was this claim from ringside that Nietes failed to deliver the desired knockout—because he did not specifically go for a stoppage!
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Nietes, after a soft start, staggered and wobbled Sosa with a big right straight close to the end of the second round.
Nietes proceeded to dominate with accurate pin-point punching but nevertheless failed to deck his outmatched opponent.
Himself speaking, Nietes claimed he could’ve easily stopped Sosa as early as the sixth round, but that he decided to lessen the pressure because he wanted to determine how long and hard he could compete as a full flyweight.
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On the other hand, there were many who felt Nietes could’ve waged full combat but decided to take extra caution and soften up because he was himself still unsure how much of a warrior he could be at 112 lb.
All told, it’s safer to say Nietes did not actually do big-time battle, but merely tried to fraternize with peers in his debut on the world flyweight stage.
Congratulations, hurray, but the full cheer comes after the celebrated small puncher of the famed ALA Stable comes up with his first whooping win as a certified flyweight.