Nietes stops Mexican, keeps WBO jr fly title
BACOLOD CITY – As promised, Murcia, Negros Occidental pride Donnie “Ahas” Nietes delivered a dominating performance and forced Mexican challenger Raul Garcia to quit after five rounds to retain the WBO junior flyweight title last night.
Cheered on by supporters from his hometown led by his family, Nietes hurt Garcia mostly with body shots and decked his opponent twice in the third round to set the tone for the one-sided affair in the card dubbed Pinoy Pride 36: A Legend in the Making.
Before the sixth started, Garcia decided not to continue, unable to live up to his promise of ending Nietes’ long standing reign and avenging the 2011 loss of his twin brother Ramon to the Pinoy champ.
Nietes, the longest reigning Filipino titlist, officially took the win by TKO to the delight of supporters at University of St. La Salle Gym. “Talagang in- expect ko ito dahil sa training
pinag-aralan namin paano siya pasukin (I came well prepared on how to stop him so this is pretty much expected),” said Nietes.
The 34-year-old Nietes made up for the rather bland decision win he posted over Ramon Garcia the last time he fought here.
“Gusto ko talaga impressive performance tonight,” said Nietes.
In the main undercard, “King” Arthur Villanueva scored a fourth-round knockout over Mexican Juan “El Penita” Jimenez in an intense duel for the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight crown that took a rather bizarre ending.
Jimenez went down after a shot by Villanueva followed by an apparent strong clash of heads 21 seconds into the fourth and was counted out by the referee. Jimenez lay on the floor motionless for a few minutes but eventually stood up for the announcement of the outcome. He immediately left the ring after Villanueva was declared winner.
Villanueva hit the canvas in the second round but came out more aggressive after that, sending Jimenez down in the next stanza with a right. They continued to go at it before the fateful fourth.
Cagayan de Oro’s Milan “El Metodico” Melindo beat Mexican Maximino Flores via seventh-round technical unanimous decision in a blood-soaked fight.
Melindo suffered a nasty cut on his left eye after a head butt with 54 seconds left in the seventh and was eventually declared unfit to continue. The fighter from Cagayan de Oro, who wore 10-ounce gloves and took a 20 percent cut on his purse as penalty for going 4.75 lbs over the 110-lb limit, won all the judges’ scorecard, 69-64, 68-65, and 67-66.