In 1941, Eleuterio Zapanta, or better known as “Little Dado”, became the first Filipino boxer to win world titles in multiple weight divisions when he won the flyweight championship a year after clinching the bantamweight title.
Since then, a number of fighters from the archipelago nation of 7,107 islands have duplicated the feat, including Dodie Boy Pe?alosa Sr., Gerry Pe?alosa, Luisito Espinosa and more recently Brian Viloria, Nonito Donaire Jr. and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao.
On October 8, former World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight champ Donnie Nietes gets the chance to join that illustrious group when he faces WBO light flyweight champion Ramon Garcia Hirales at the University of St. La Salle Gymnasium in Nietes’ hometown of Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines.
For the 29-year-old Nietes (28-1-3, 16 knockouts), joining that elite group would be invaluable.
“It would mean the world to me just to be mentioned in the same breath as Luisito Espinosa and Gerry Penalosa, for I grew up watching these great champions,” said Nietes in Filipino. “I really am humbled to be compared to them.”
