Nietes eyes WBO belt in return to ring vs Colombian in Dubai
FOUR weight division world champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes finally got an opponent—colombian Pablo Carrillo— for his April 3 comeback two years after vacating the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight title.
Nietes, 38, confirmed to Businessmirror on Wednesday that the vacant WBO international super flyweight belt will be at stake in his 12-round bout against the orthodox Carrillo (257-1 win-loss-draw record with 16 knockouts) at the Caesar’s Palace in Dubai.
“That was one of the options because they wanted me to compete for a title even if it’s not a world [title], that’s what they really wanted,” Nietes (42-1-5 record with 23 knockouts) said. “So for now, I am targeting to reach the exact super fly weight [115 lbs].”
Nietes was originally pitted against Panama’s Orlando Penalba or Dominican Republic’s Norbelto Jimenez. But the Murcia (Negros Occidental) native said both fighters were later scrapped by MTK Global, which is promoting the card in partnership with Dubai-based D4G, because of travel concern.
Nietes and his trainer coach Edmund
Villamor will fly to Dubai from Cebu on March 30 hopeful that his team won’t be hampered by travel restrictions.
“We don’t have any problem even if we arrive there by March 30 in Dubai because we already completed our preparation, conditioning and sparring here,” said Nietes, who is scheduled to spar with Jeo Santisima and KJ Kataraja at the Villamor Boxing Gym in Cebu.
Nietes, the longest reigning Filipino world title holder, defeated Japanese Kazuto Ioka via split decision in Macau last December 31, 2018, to bag the WBO super flyweight champion.
He, however, vacated the crown in April 2019 to give fellow Filipino Aston Palicte a shot at a world title. Palicte, however, suffered a 10th-round technical knockout loss to Ioka last June 19 in Tokyo.