FROM his humble beginnings, former gym help Donnie Nietes will face his own moment of truth as he tries to bring the first world title to the famed ALA Gym and become the Philippine?s fourth world champion at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel Grand Ballroom.
Nietes will be taking on an undefeated Thai for the World Boxing Organization strawweight title today?the belt vacated by Ivan Calderon. Calderon earned the WBO jr. flyweight belt after beating Hugo Cazares last month.
Nietes and his opponent, the longtime Pan-Asian Boxing Association minimum weight champion Pornsawan Kratingdaenggym tipped the scales at exactly 105 pounds in yesterday?s weigh-in sessions supervised by WBO Asia Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo Jr. and GAB officials at the Cebu Grand Hotel.
The card, dubbed ?WBO World Championship? will officially start at 5 p.m. with the Rocky Fuentes vs. Danilo Lerio RP flyweight championship opening the show.
?Nietes is always ready. He is a relentless puncher and more skilled than Pornsawan. We practiced him well and prepared him good. It?s all up to him now inside the ring,? said ALA Boys mentor and Cebu?s foremost boxing patron Antonio Lopez Aldeguer.
4 Pinoys KOed
The 29-year-old Pornsawan is a 75 percent knockout puncher as he dropped 15 of his 20 opponents to the canvas, including four Filipino challengers.
?Pornsawan is not an amazing puncher. He is not a one-punch KO artist. Nietes is different he has proven to be a one-punch KO artist for quite some time,? added Aldeguer.
Nietes has a 62 percent KO rate scoring 13 KOs in his 21 wins, with one defeat and three draws.
Another interesting matchup is between the 17-year-old AJ ?Bazooka? Banal and Mexican Esau Gaona for the WBO Youth super flyweight championship.
The undefeated Banal (14-0-1, 11 KOs) tipped the scales at 115 pounds, while Gaona (16-3-1, 10KOs) weighed 114.5 pounds.
?I believe Banal will have an easy time against Gaona. His opponents in the US (Juan Alberto Rosas and Jorge Cardenas) are more formidable than this one,? Aldeguer said.
