Macau fight for Nietes

CEBU CITY — Donnie Nietes could make his first fight appearance in Macau in February if all goes well in last night’s 12-round fight against Mexican challenger Carlos Velarde at the Waterfront Hotel here.

ALA Boxing President Michael Aldeguer said that there have been discussions with prominent boxing luminaries on the possibility of Nietes being part of a card in the former Portuguese colony on Valentine’s Day.

Aldeguer said he had talks with Top Rank big boss Bob Arum and World Boxing Organization (WBO) President Paco Varcavercel on big plans for Nietes, who is seeking to retain his WBO junior flyweight crown and become the longest reigning Filipino champion of all-time against Velarde.

“(Arum) had mentioned the fight card on Feb. 14 in Macau and there is a plan of putting two ALA fighters there. The name of Nietes has always popped up but I don’t want to put a stamp on that because we have this fight card,” said Aldeguer.

“We had discussions with Paco Varcavercel and part of the Nietes plan is to go up at 112 because the big names are there,” he added. “We have Roman Gonzales who is going to fight Rocky Fuentes on the 22nd and we have Juan Estrada who is I believe is such a tremendous fighter and I think it would be a tremendous fight for Nietes. These are the fights that right now we need to watch.”

The bout against Velarde could be Nietes’ last in the 108-lb class. It remains to be seen if he will immediately move up to the 112-lb division.

“We haven’t decided yet if we would immediately vacate the 108-lb belt to move to 112 but he will definitely fight at the 112-lb division,” Aldeguer said.