LONGEST reigning Filipino boxing champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes of Murcia town, Negros Occidental is set to exchange blows against fellow Negrense Aston Palicte of Bago City for the vacant World Boxing Organization World Super Flyweight title on August 18 in Cebu City.
This marks the second time this year that two Filipino fighters will clash for the championship belt after the Jerwin Ancajas-Jonas Sultan title fight last May. Ancajas prevailed over Sultan to retain his IBF junior bantamweight title for the fifth time.
Nietes (41-1-4, 23 KOs) gave up his International Boxing Federation flyweight title in April to move up to a higher weight.
The 36-year-old champion is also less than two years to surpass Joe Louis record as the longest reigning champion of the world for 11 years and 252 months.
For Nietes, to fight a fellow Negrense will be a tough challenge. “But, we cannot do anything because this is what the WBO wants. So I just have to prepare well because Aston [Palicte] does the same. I hope we will be able to deliver a good performance in the ring,” he said.
The former three-division champion also stressed that there will be no compadre or friends or even relatives during the fight. “But we will remain friends after the match. That is our life as boxers,” he added.
On the other hand, 27-year-old Palicte, the reigning North America Boxing Federation super flyweight champion, is also in tough preparation ahead of the fight.
Palicte also holds an impressive record of 24 wins, 20 by way of knockouts, and a pair of defeats.
Also expected to be in the undercard is another Negrense champion and two-time world title challenger, Arthur Villanueva of Bago City, who recently extended his record to 33 victories with three losses and 18 stoppages after beating Renren Tesorio via a 7th round technical knockout.