Philippine boxing was not lacking in heroes on the day the nation celebrated the 150th birthday of Andres Bonifacio.
Donnie
`Ahas’ Nietes defended his World Boxing Organization light-flyweight
crown with a sensational third round knockout of Mexican Sammy Gutierrez
to the delight of a sizable crowd at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum,
Saturday night.
The champion had the challenger all sized up
right in the opening round when the Filipino sent him down to the canvas
twice, each of them courtesy of his solid right hand.
Gutierrez,
fighting with Mexican pride, survived the next round, but was knocked
down again in the third when a devastating Nietes right found its
target.
The challenger tried to get up on wobbly legs, but referee Celestino Ruiz wisely put a stop to the carnage.
The end came at the 2:58 mark.
“Tingin
ko first round pa lang kaya ko na siya,” said Nietes, who improved to
32-1-4, with 18 KOs. “Kala ko nga hindi na tatayo, e.”
He later offered his victory to victims and families affected by super-typhoon Yolanda.
"Sa nangyari sa Tacloban, makakabangon tayo," the champion said.
Gutierrez, the former WBO minimumweight title holder, fell to 33-10, with 23 KOs.
Nietes'
impressive win came after Merlito Sabillo had to settle for a split
draw against Carlos Buitrago to retain his WBO minimumweight title.
The
29-year-old champion started rather tentative against the Nicaraguan
challenger and didn’t really get into the rhythm until the later rounds
of the 12-round fight.
Still, the 20-year-old Buitrago appeared
to have controlled majority of the bout that his corner began
celebrating when the final bell rang by carrying a small Nicaraguan flag
atop the ring.
However, it wasn’t meant to be.
Judge Levi
Martinez saw the fight 115-113 for Buitrago, Joerg Milke had it 115-113
for Sabillo, and Takeshi Shimakawa scored it even at 114-114 for the
split draw.
Sabillo, who wobbled in round nine following a solid
right hook by the challenger, preserved his unbeaten record at 24-0,
with 12 KOs as he defended his crown for the second straight time.
The young Nicaraguan, the WBO no. 1 contender, saw his record fall to 27-0-1, plus one no contest, with 16 KOs.
Earlier,
Milan Melindo staged a successful ring comeback by hacking out a
unanimous decision over tough Jose Alfredo Rodriguez of Mexico over 12
rounds.
Melindo won it by scores of 118-110, 118-109, 119-109, as
he won his first fight since a failed bid to wrest the WBO flyweight
crown against Juan Francisco Estrada last July at the Cotai Arena in
Macau.
The pride of Cagayan de Oro City sported a cut on the
bridge of his noise and another one just below his left eye, but
improved to 30-1 (12 KOs) following the win.
Fellow ALA boxing
stablemates Jason Pagara and AJ Banal were also stretched to the limit,
but carved out hard-earned victories as well.
Pagara dominated
Vladimir Baez of Dominican Republic in a 10-round light-welterweight
clash, while Banal endured a 10-round bantamweight bout against Lucian
Gonzales of Puerto Rico.
Former world title contender Jimrex Jaca
set off the pace for Filipino fighters with a first round knockout of
Indonesian Wellem Reyk.
Infolinks
