The country’s string of bad luck in world title fights continued Wednesday when Donnie “Ahas” Nietes bowed to Japanese champion Kazuto Ioka in a bid to regain the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior bantamweight (115 lbs) championship.
Not a few thought Nietes was in a good position to break the losing streak that has left the country with no reigning world champion. A four-division world champion (minimumweight, light flyweight, flyweight and junior bantamweight), Nietes had not tasted defeat since September 2004 when he dropped a disputed split-decision to Indonesian Angky Angkotta.
Also, Nietes beat Ioka in their first meeting in December 2018.
Alas, Nietes looked all of his 40 summers in the rematch with Ioka.
Nietes dominated Ioka in their first meeting with superb counters, but his timing was off in the return bout. Nietes’ punches also lacked their usual steam.
Ioka was the busier fighter, keeping Nietes at bay with a pesky jab and some solid body shots. Ioka’s body work forced Nietes to observe distance, resulting in the Filipino’s counters hitting mostly air particles.
Nietes’ only bright moment came in the ninth round when he landed some right hands and a wicked uppercut. But by the end of the round, Ioka nailed Nietes with a good right shot. In the tenth round, a short left hook to the body from Ioka hurt Nietes and forced him to step back. Ioka opened a nasty cut on Nietes’ left eye with about a minute left in the round.
It was a walk in the park for Ioka as he won via lopsided scores of 118-110, 120-108 and 117-111.
The defeat snapped Nietes’ 37-bout winning streak compiled in 18 years. Age and the lengthy hiatus contributed to Nietes’ subpar showing.
Three months after beating Ioka in December 2018, Nietes inexplicably gave up his WBO junior bantamweight crown. Nietes gave up the WBO title just when international fight fans were warming up to him.
Nietes opted to relinquish the throne rather than face countryman Aston Palicte. The two battled to a split-draw in September 2018 and a rematch was in the cards after Nietes beat Ioka. But Nietes was not receptive to the idea of fighting a fellow Filipino and decided to walk away.
Nietes talked about challenging the other world champs in the junior bantamweight class, but he instead retreated to his cocoon.
PH boxing’s report card Nietes went inactive and didn’t return to action until April 2021 when he outpointed Colombian Pablo Carrillo in Dubai. Nietes fought again eight months later, December 2021, but looked pedestrian in a split-draw with Norbelto Jimenez of the Dominican Republic.
Surprisingly, despite Nietes’ inactivity and victories against two nondescript foes in his return, the WBO in April installed the Filipino as the mandatory contender to WBO champ Ioka.
Unlike Nietes, Ioka has been fighting regularly since their first meeting in 2018. Ioka stopped Palicte in 10 rounds in June 2019 to win the WBO title vacated by Nietes. Going into the rematch with Nietes, Ioka had successfully defended the WBO title four times.
Nietes’ defeat is only his second in 51 total fights, but it may very well be his swan song. Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement after losing to Yordenis Ugas last August while Nonito Donaire Jr. may also be headed to the retirement pasture after a devastating second round knockout loss to Naoya Inoue on June 7. For a while, Pacquiao, Donaire Jr. and Nietes were the kings of Philippine pro boxing.
Our fighters are now mired in an alarming slump.
Mark Magsayo actually opened the year with a bang by beating Gary Russell Jr. on January 22 for the WBC featherweight title and Rene Cuarto followed it up with a successful defense of the IBF minimumweight title on February 6, but it has been downhill for our fighters since.
On February 26, Jerwin Ancajas lost his IBF junior bantamweight title to Fernando Martinez. In April, John Riel Casimero was stripped of his WBO bantamweight title for his failure to defend against British challenger Paul Butler. Jonas Sultan stepped in for Casimero and fought Butler for the “interim” WBO belt, but lost by decision on April 22. Butler was promoted to regular champ and officially claimed Casimero’s belt.
On June 7, Donaire Jr. lost his WBC bantamweight crown to Inoue and some two weeks later, on June 24, Mark Anthony Barriga failed in his bid for the WBO light flyweight strap. On July 1, Cuarto yielded his IBF minimumweight title to Mexican Daniel Valladares. On July 9, Magsayo parted ways with his WBC featherweight belt after losing on points to Mexican Rey Vargas.
Nietes is the latest casualty.
