KNOCKOUT VICTORY FOR NIETES EYED
ALA Gym chief trainer Edito Villamor sees Donnie Nietes winning by unanimous decision or late knockout
Youth and size may not be on Donnie Nietes’ side but ALA Gym head coach Edito Villamor is 100 percent confident that he will win today in his all-Filipino world championship fight with Aston Palicte for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight belt in the co-main feature of Superfly 3 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
“One hundred percent because of what Donnie has shown in training,” Villamor said.
Palicte vowed to hand Nietes his first career knockout loss but Villamor disagrees and believes that it’ll be the other way around.
“It’s Donnie by unanimous decision or late knockout,” he said.
The 36-year-old Nietes tipped the scales at 114.8 pounds, while Palicte weighed-in a little bit lighter at 114.6.
Though this is Nietes’ first fight at 115 pounds, the three-division world champion has adjusted well to the weight.
“He’s ready to fight at super flyweight because of his sparring. We have seen that he can easily adapt to the bigger guys,” said Villamor.
Nietes was very impressive in his last fight. He battered two-division world champion Juan Carlos Reveco into submission in the seventh round in a masterful performance last Feb. 24 at The Forum. He won the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight belt, his third division crown.
Villamor feels that this won’t be an easy fight for Nietes. However, he trusts his ward and believes that he’ll walk away with the win.
“Yes, because he went up in weight. But we have seen that he can adapt with the bigger guys. This won’t be easy but Donnie is ready to take punches at 115 pounds,” he said.
Nietes is 41-1-4 with 23 knockouts, while the 27-year-old Palicte is 24-2 with 20 knockouts.
Nietes is gunning for his fourth division title, a feat that has only been done by two Filipinos—Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire Jr. /