Monday, September 01, 2008 Nietes, Bautista destroy foes By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
DONNIE `Ahas' Nietes and Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista crushed their respective rivals Saturday night to the delight of the fanatic Cebuano fans at the Grand Ballroom of Waterfront Cebu Hotel in Cebu City.
Nietes fashioned out a stunning second-round stoppage of Nicaraguan Eddy Castro to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimum weight crown.
Bautista, fighting in the main event, was equally impressive in his second round destruction of Eden "Anestecista" Marquez of Mexico in their WBO super bantamweight titular showdown.
Bautista's victory capped a big night for Filipino boxers.
Earlier, WBO Youth lightweight titlist Jason Pagara annihilated Thai fighter Kongdej Sithtrajtrakan via a fourth-round techical knockout (TKO).
Nietes was terrific against Castro, decking the Nicaraguan for good with a thundering right-hand shot to the jaw that the referee never bothered to make the count. Time was 2:49 of the second round.
Bautista rained Marquez with big shots in the second round after a slow start.
The Filipino dropped Marquez with a stinging left hook and, after the Mexican got up, finished his rival off with some more devastating blows.
Referee Bruce McTavish stopped the bout at the 1:08 mark of the second round after seeing Marquez had enough of the beating.
With the victory, Bautista improved his ring record to 26-1 with 18 KOs, while Marquez dropped to 16-4-3 with 12 stoppages.
