Will Nietes hunger for more crowns?
By winning the International Boxing Federation flyweight crown on Saturday, Donnie “Ahas” Nietes is now a three-division world champion.
It is never easy to become a multiple titlist. Now that Nietes has done it thrice, he has “arrived.”
Nietes, the pride of Tony and Mike Aldeguer’s ALA Promotions, has added his brandnew 112-lb tiara to his previous world crowns in the 105- and 108-pound divisions.
The most illustrious son of Murcia, Negros Occidental, also boasts of being the longest reigning Filipino world champion at nine-plus years. The great Gabriel “Flash” Elorde used to hold the record of seven-plus years as world junior lightweight champion in the 60s-70s.
Add to that Nietes’ sterling achievement of not having lost a fight in the last 12 years, giving him an enviable 40-1-2, win-lossdraw slate with 22 knockouts.
He failed to stop Thai Komgrich Nantapech on Saturday, earning a mere unanimous decision victory at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.
Two judges scored it 117-111 and the third one 115-113—all for Nietes.
Some expressed surprise over Nietes’ inability to put away the Thai, who was knocked out in two rounds by Albert Pagara a while back.
Was Nietes’ power affected by his hop into a higher weight division?
“At first, I thought I can knock him down in the early rounds, but he’s tough. Very tough,” Nietes told the Inquirer’s Roy Luarca.
Well, maybe, Nantapech (224-0, 15 KOs) learned his lesson after absorbing that knockout against Pagara?
Nietes is pushing 35 and the wear and tear of this brutal sport could be showing now. Does retirement beckon then? It looks unseemly. Nietes, two world crowns short of the five-division titlist Nonito Donaire and a huge five behind the eight-division champ Manny Pacquiao, appears dead set to want for more.
There is the lure of the 115-lb crown, now being lorded over by Mexican hotshots Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez.
A fight against anyone of the two could be a blockbuster at the tills, especially if Nietes first wins a planned unification 112-lb bout in September.
Will Nietes keep on plodding, like many other boxers becoming irreversibly addicted to brawling as time goes by? Seemingly, yes.