Nietes vs Palicte today for WBO super flyweight title

Donnie Nietes (left) and Aston Palicte pose after successfully making the mandatory weight for their WBO world super flyweight showdown today at the Forum in Los Angeles, USA.

THE Philippines will take the center stage in the global boxing scene as another all-Filipino world title showdown unfolds today between three-division world champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes and Aston “Mighty” Palicte in the Super Fly 3 fight card of HBO Boxing at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Both will be fighting for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) world super flyweight title.

Nietes, the pride of ALA Boxing Gym, tipped the weighing scales yesterday at 114.8 pounds while Palicte, promoted by Roy Jones Jr., weighed in at 114.6 pounds.

This is the second all-Filipino world title showdown after Jerwin Ancajas successfully defended his IBF world super flyweight title against Jonas Sultan last May in the United States.

Nietes and Palicte have contrasting goals in their world title showdown as the former aims to become a four-division world champion while the latter is out to prove that he is the next big thing in Philippine boxing.

The 36-year-old Nietes will put his 41-1-4 (win-loss-draw) record at stake against the 27-year-old Palicte, who holds a record of 24-2-0.

The third man in the ring is California Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Jack Reiss while the three judges scoring the bout are Robert Hoyle, Daniel Sandoval, and Max De Luca.

The other two main event duels featured in the fight card are Juan Francisco Estrada (36-3-0, 25KOs) versus Felipe Orucuta (36-4-0, 30KOs), and Kazuto Ioka (22-1-0, 13KOs) versus McWilliams Arroyo (17-3-0, 14KOs).