FOR some reason, a simple tweet I sent the other day about Donnie Nietes facing off against Aston Palicte in an all-Pinoy battle garnered several retweets and drew some likes from boxing fans and fellow writers abroad.
Indeed, it’s not every day that we see two top Filipino fighters clash on the world stage.
This, after the much-awaited Jerwin Ancajas-Jonas Sultan dukeout for the IBF Superflyweight title taking place later this month.
Too much of a good thing?
Nah. I’ve been beating the drums on this for a long time.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Previously, Filipino promoters tended to avoid potential matchups between their wards simply because it was thought to be counter-productive for the Filipino boxing landscape.
Whenever an opportunity arose they opted to dance around it- by either giving way to another contender or worse, electing to move up in weight.
But now with so many talented Pinoy fighters bunched up in a few weight classes, clashes are inevitable.
And so should we embrace this developing context. Mexican and American fighters have been bashing each other’s heads for championship belts ever since.
It’s about damn time, really. It’s called fistic meritocracy. And it will usher in another memorable era in Philippine boxing.
PALICTE. To be candid, this Last Rounder was in the dark about Palicte’s background and was surprised he got the call, considering that “Ahas” moved up in weight to fight the likes of Sor Rungvisai and Juan Francisco Estrada.
But this is a WBO-mandated bout so Nietes has to fight his fellow Pinoy warrior.
Palicte’s record is an impressive one, 24 wins, only two blemishes with 20 via the abbreviated route.
He trains out of the MP gym in Davao City and is promoted by MP Promotions.
At 5’ 7” he is considerably taller than Nietes and likes to stay in front of his opponents, dishing out punishing combinations.
An interesting matchup , pregnant with myriad possibilities.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my pretty inaanak, Amanda Castellano-Ostrea who turns 10 this week. Cheers!