Still the King

There’s plenty of venom and power left in Donnie “Ahas” Nietes to instill fear among his peers.

Fighting before a global audience for the first time, Nietes knocked out Argentine Juan Carlos Reveco on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) to retain the International Boxing Federation flyweight crown in SuperFly 2 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Belying his 35 years, Nietes lived up to his moniker (Snake), striking and wobbling Reveco near the end of the sixth round before lunging for the kill with a hard right, three body punches and a lethal left in the seventh.

The 34-year-old Reveco fell, staggered to beat the count, but was spared further punishment when his corner called the lopsided bout off at the 53-second mark.

After an uninterrupted reign of over a decade in three weight classes, Nietes finally proved that he’s indeed an elite fighter worthy of bigger, juicier pay-per-view bouts.

No wonder, the pride of Murcia, Negros Occidental and torchbearer of Ala Promotions, sounded ecstatic after the victory that raised his record to 41-1-4 with 23 knockouts.

“Not only did I keep my title, I knocked my opponent out,” Nietes, who last tasted defeat in 2004, said in Filipino.

In handing Reveco a fourth loss against 39 wins, Nietes lined himself up for a possible clash with Thai Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, who kept his World Boxing Council super flyweight title by majority decision over Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada in the headliner of the event shown by HBO.

Nietes said he is also looking at either Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez or Estrada for his next fight.

While Nietes’ career gained luster, that of Filipino-American Brian Viloria dimmed further.

The bloodied “Hawaiian Punch” yielded to the younger Artem Dalakian of Ukraine in their battle for the vacant World Boxing Association flyweight tile by unanimous decision, 118-109 thrice.

Viloria’s woes were compounded when he sustained a bloody cut on the left forehead caused by Dalakian’s wayward elbow in the 11th round.

Now 37, Viloria skidded to 38-6, 23 knockouts.

Dalakian stretched his win run to 16 with 11 knockouts. —ROY LUARCA