WINNING is something one cannot get enough of. That seems to be the case for Filipino world boxing champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes who has sustained his more-than-a-decade winning streak while setting his sights on continued success and bigger things moving forward.
Fresh from his latest conquest last month, Mr. Nietes, 35, met members of local media on Wednesday, March 14, to celebrate another feather in his cap while at the same time taking it as an opportunity to share his plans for the future.
“I really want to go back and fight in front of the US crowd and on HBO, since they were really happy with the show we put up in our last fight,” said Mr. Nietes at the press conference held at the ABS-CBN compound, speaking of his seventh-round technical knockout win over Juan Carlos Reveco of Argentina on HBO Boxing After Dark’s “Superfly 2” event on Feb. 25 in Inglewood, California.
The win was a successful first title defense by Mr. Nietes of his International Boxing Federation flyweight title which he won in April last year and marked an impressive pay-per-view debut on United States soil.
In beating his Argentinian opponent, Mr. Nietes (41-1-4), the country’s longest-reigning world champion, majority as a light flyweight, was clinical right from the start, landing power punches that would later take a toll on Mr. Reveco.
The windup of round six proved to signal the end of things for Mr. Reveco in the fight after he absorbed a right hand from the Filipino champion.
Just as the bell sounded, Mr. Reveco (39-4) staggered to his corner upon getting hit, a punch his team though protested came after the bell.
In the seventh round, Mr. Reveco tried to make a go at it but obviously he was still reeling from the solid punch he got and just had nothing left to give.
Sensing that he had his opponent on the brink of defeat, Mr. Nietes quickly pounced on Mr. Reveco before the latter’s corner threw the white towel at the 53-second mark of the round.
For his impressive US debut, Mr. Nietes made a good impression to a wider audience, even getting rave reviews from boxing luminaries like Max Kellerman and Andre Ward.
The show of support and words of encouragement he got after his US title defense all the more stoked the fire in him to continue fighting and bringing pride to the country.
“It makes me more inspired to work harder for the next fight. We are not yet done and we want to fight the best the world has to offer,” Mr. Nietes said.
He went on to say that he is eyeing moving up to super flyweight and vie for the vacant World Boxing Organization Super Flyweight throne against Nicaraguan Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.
A win in that fight would make the Murcia, Negros Occidental native Nietes a four-division world champion, something only boxing superstar Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire had done.
Started his professional career in 2003, Mr. Nietes has not lost a fight since September 2004.
He has been a staple in the “Pinoy Pride” boxing series of ALA Boxing and ABS-CBN Sports that airs on ABS-CBN, S+A, and S+A HD. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
