ALL roads will lead to the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel and Casino this Saturday night as the nation?s longest reigning boxing champion seeks to perpetuate his vice-like grip over the WBO diadem.
Donnie Nietes been a world champion since September 2007 and so far has tallied a total of 14 wins since then.
To date, his toughest challenge came from Moises Fuentes and the latter gave Donnie a scare and a beating during the first time they met back in March 2013.
However, during the rematch Nietes gave us his career-defining performance as he bloodied, and thoroughly dominated Fuentes and stopped his rival inside 9 rounds.
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ. His challenger this Saturday is no pushover either. Mexican Francisco Rodriguez wields a record of 17 wins, two losses and 11 knockouts.
He is a former world champion, as he previously held the WBO minimum-weight crown, the same belt Donnie won back in 2007. Rodriguez did it in impressive fashion too, as he stopped Donnie?s stable-mate Merlito Sabillo in that title-clinching effort.
That right there is a compelling back-story to this championship encounter.
Rodriguez has moved up in weight since then to challenge Nietes, but in another interesting back-story, he almost got waylaid along the way by an unknown but very determined Pinoy fighter.
WALLOPMAN. Jomar Fajardo?s ring epithet is the ?Wallopman?and true to form, he walloped Rodriguez around the ring for 12 rounds, bloodied his nose and gave the cocky Mexican a scare in November of last year.
Rodriguez was in Cebu at that time, fighting on the undercard of Nietes? title defense against Carlos Velarde and had openly challenged NIetes during the pre-fight press conference.
Fajardo came in as a last minute sub for Virgilio Silvano, but he sure didn?t fight like one.
Rodriguez would get some measure of vengeance against Fajardo a few months later with a unanimous decision victory in their rematch. But considering that the fight was held in Mexico, that victory was unsurprising, given that Fajardo was out of his comfort zone and Rodriguez was more prepared this time around.
So what does that tell us of Rodriguez?
UNPREDICTABLE. Clearly, Rodriguez is difficult to discern and predict. He was tough and resilient against Sabillo and the latter even confided to this Last Rounder that he was surprised by Rodriguez? unyielding stamina.
He was strong and durable against Katsunari Takayama, and scored a knockdown in the third en route to a unanimous decision victory. That fight was even cited as a candidate for Fight of the Year honors in 2014.
But at times against Fsjardo, he appeared lethargic and uninspired-perhaps even in awe of the youngster?s irreverent attitude.
Rodriguez seems to have a nasty habit of fighting to the level of his opponent, and this trait accounts for his unpredictability.
MY TAKE. This fight has all the makings of a war of attrition. Rodriguez purposely arrived early in the country to acclimatize himself with our fickle weather and so he is not taking any chances and pulling out all the stops to try and defeat Nietes.
He will bring the fight to the local hero and use his trademark volume punching to flummox Nietes and win him the rounds.
Sadly, that will not be enough. Nietes has evolved into a more complete fighter, one blessed with speed and power and fistic intellect
Speed will be the determining factor here, and Nietes will use lateral movement to avoid Rodriguez? attempt to turn the fight into a back alley brawl.
Rodriguez will be game, competitive and will have his moments, but I expect Nietes to win this one via a clear cut unanimous decision.
VERBATIM. ?Chad will rock him and then tap him. McGregor will get desperate after he eats some punches and will make a mistake?
-Fabio Prado, coach of Chad Mendes , last minute sub for Jose Aldo in UFC 189 against Conor McGregor
LAST ROUND. It?s on Jazzy Gorne who recently celebrated her birthday. Cheers! ([email protected])
