DONNIE Nietes is back.
At 38 years old, Nietes is nowhere near slowing down after a convincing unanimous decision victory over Colombian Pablo Carrillo in the main supporting bout of “Legacy” on April 4, 2021 at the Rotunda of the Caesars Palace Bluewaters in Dubai, UAE.
Nietes, who was coming off a two-year hiatus, showed no signs of ring rust as he outclassed Carrillo with scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 96-95.
Nietes was the busier fighter and landed the more accurate blows.
According to Compubox, Nietes threw a total of 425 punches and 97 of them for a 23 percent punching percentage compared to Carillo’s 416 total punches, 81 punches of which landed, giving him a 19 percent punching percentage.
Nietes won the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) International super flyweight belt and will most likely break into the WBO super flyweight ratings, wherein Japanese star Kazuto Ioka is the current titleholder.
Nietes improved to 43-1-5 with 23 knockouts, while Carrillo dropped to 25-8-1 with 16 knockouts.
“We are very happy with the win,” Nietes’ longtime trainer and close friend Edmund Villamor told SunStar Cebu.
After showing everyone that he still has it, Nietes wants to fight the big names in the super flyweight division, the likes of World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight king Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, Srisaket Sor Rungvusai and WBO super flyweight titleholder Kazuto Ioka.
Nietes is unbeaten inside the ring in 17 years. He last tasted defeat in 2004 with a controversial split decision defeat in the hands of Indonesian Angky Angkotta in Indonesia.
Nietes is one of the best Filipino fighters in history. He holds the record of being the longest Filipino world champion and has won titles in four different divisions. (EKA)