Donnie Nietes Captures 4th World Title on NY Eve
On Monday, Donnie Nietes showed us his take on what it means to “start the new year right.”
Nietes captured the WBO World super flyweight title after defeating his opponent, Japan’s Kazuto Ioka, via split decision at Wynn Palace in Macau.
With the win, the Filipino boxer succeeded in capturing his fourth world title in four different weight classes. These are the WBO World minimumweight, WBO World light flyweight, and the IBF World flyweight.
Nietes, boasting a 42-1-5 record with 23 knockouts, slugged it out with Ioka for twelve rounds. His performance was able to convince two of three judges, giving him 118-110 and 116-112 score cards. Ioka got a 116-112 nod from the third judge.
Ready for a bigger stage?
With his fourth world title, Nietes is primed to fight a big name soon. Although some would say that his technical style of boxing isn’t made for pay-per-view television, his impressive record is enough to warrant a fight on a bigger stage.
Some of the names that have popped up include Sirisaket Sor Rungvisai, Juan Francisco Estrada, and Roman Gonzalez.
Rungvisai has a 47-4-1 record with a massive 41 knockouts and defeated Estrada in February 2018 in California.
Estrada, on the other hand, has a 38-3 record with 26 knockouts. Filipino boxers like Brian Viloria and Milan Melindo have fallen prey to his flashy style of boxing.
The Nicaraguan Gonzalez has 47 wins and two losses with 39 knockouts. He’s also the first boxer to win four world titles in four of the lowest weight classes: minimumweight, light flyweight, flyweight and super flyweight.
