Donnie Nietes (left) and Aston Palicte (right) in a staredown during the final press conference at the Avalon Theater in Los Angeles, California, for their WBO world super flyweight showdown.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
BASED on some of the numbers, Aston “Mighty” Palicte may have an edge over three-division world champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes.
Palicte is 27 years old, Nietes is older by nine years at 36.
Palicte is taller by four inches at 5-foot-7 and has a three-inch reach advantage against the ALA Boxing Gym stalwart.
But there is one important department wherein Nietes has the upper hand — experience.
And this is what Nietes hopes to take advantage of when he faces off with Palicte in an all-Filipino world title showdown on Sunday in the Super Fly 3 fight card of HBO Boxing at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, USA.
“We are 100 percent confident that Donnie will win the title and become a four-division world champion because of what we have seen in his training. In terms of experience, Donnie is very matured and he has already fought the biggest names in his division,” said Edito Villamor, Nietes’ trainer.
According to Villamor, the pride of ALA Boxing Gym is in his best condition after six months of rigid training following his win over mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Reveco of Argentina to retain his International Boxing Federation (IBF) world flyweight title.
“We were able to build muscle and gain enough weight. This is the heaviest weight division Donnie will be fighting in. We also saw his improvement in sparring, he did very well against bigger and taller sparring partners,” said Villamor, who supervises Nietes’ training camp mainly held at the Wild Card Gym in downtown Los Angeles.
But Villamor doesn’t want to be too confident, especially since during the final press conference yesterday, it was clear that Palicte had a bit of physical advantages over Nietes.
“There is no room for complacency because Palicte is a dangerous opponent who has a great amateur background,” said Villamor. But he is confident Nietes can pull through with his experience.
Nietes is the longest reigning Filipino world champion, now running at 10 years.
He has not been beaten since 2004 and has dominated three weight divisions, now gunning for a fourth one.
He has a record of 41-1-4 (win-loss-draw), with 23 wins by knockouts.
Palicte has just started to make his name in mainstream boxing, boasting of a 24-2-0 record. He has 20 wins by knockouts.
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