MANILA – Four-division world boxing champion Donnie Nietes is raring to get back in action and possibly into world title contention this year.
He was inactive the entire 2019; he nursed a shoulder injury.
Nietes’ manager Michael Aldeguer said in an interview with Philboxing.com that the Murcia, Negros Occidental fighter is hoping to land big fights in the super flyweight division.
“Donnie had a very busy 2018, thrice fighting tough opponents. When he achieved his dream of becoming a four-division world champion, he looked for bigger fights but they never came,” Aldeguer said.
Added the president of the Cebu-based ALA Boxing Promotions: “We had plans for a tune-up last year but Donnie wanted to rest his shoulder. He felt he would rather rest.”
Aldeguer said Nietes is not yet ready to hang up his boxing gloves and is still hoping to battle with WBO champion Kazuto Ioka, WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada, WBA titlist Khalid Yafai, and Roman Gonzalez.
“Hopefully this year he gets the chance,” Aldeguer said. “He sounded confident that if there’s a big fight coming up, he can always get back in shape. He doesn’t balloon too much and is very disciplined.”
The 38-year-old Nietes (42-1-5 with 23 stoppage wins) wrestled the WBO super flyweight belt from Ioka last Dec. 31, 2018 but gave up the belt last year to give fellow Negrense boxer Aston Palicte a chance to win. But Palicte was unsuccessful./PN
