LOS ANGELES ? For three days last week at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Donnie Nietes was taken to deep waters and the Filipino world light-flyweight king didn?t disappoint.
Nietes, who puts the World Boxing Organization 108-lb crown for the eighth time this Saturday night against Mexican Juan Alejo at the StubHub Center in nearby Carson, rose to the challenge.
?Malaking tulong sa akin yung tatlong sparring sessions,? said Nietes on Monday night as the 33-year-old starts to taper off in his training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
Those three sparring sessions Nietes was referring to was his clash last week with Brian Viloria, the Fil-Am flyweight who is also gearing up for a big fight at around the same time Nietes will deal with Alejo.
Even Nietes? trainer Edito Villamor admits the Viloria experience pushed the long-reigning titleholder to the wall.
?Napalaban ng husto,? said Nietes? trainer Edito Villamor, who has been supervising the workouts of Nietes and three other Filipino punchers seeing action underneath the show dubbed Pinoy Pride 33: Philippines vs The World.
Now that the crucial phase of the buildup is over, Nietes and his ALA Boxing stablemates are taking it nice and easy, making sure they won?t leave anything in the gym.
?Pa-easy, easy na lang?light training na lang,? added Villamor, noting that the Pagara brothers, Jason and Albert and rising featherweight Mark Magsayo remain focused and all pumped up.
This weekend?s promotion will be ALA Boxing?s debut in the US mainland and top promoter Michael Aldeguer is looking at putting more next year across California.
Of course, the Nietes-Alejo needs to draw a sizable crowd and a large audience on ABS-CBN?s The Filipino Channel for Aldeguer to pursue his ambitions.
Still, Aldeguer is pulling all the stops to make that happen, confident Filipinos and Mexicans will come to show their support and rekindle the rivalry of the two bitter ring rivals.
