MANILA – The WBO world super flyweight belt remains without an owner after Donnie Nietes and Aston Palicte settled for a split draw on Sunday at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Nietes, a native of Murcia, Negros Occidental, was denied of his crowning glory – only one judge scored in his favor 118-110, another sided with Palicte 116-112, while a third scored the bout 114-114.
While failing to capture what could have been his fourth world title in as many divisions, Nietes accepted the verdict and is open to a possible rematch with Palicte, a fellow Negros Occidental native from Bago City.
“Wala naman na tayong magagawa diyan, tapos na iyan e. Kahit naman si Manny Pacquiao dati nakaranas ng mga ganoon,” Nietes told this writer after the match.
As in his previous matches, Nietes was calculated but effective with his punches. Palicte also had his connections but they were not as crisp as with his fellow Negrense slugger.
Palicte faded in the late rounds – he went on survival mode in the 12th round as Nietes broke down his defense with potent combinations.
Moreover CompuBox showed that Nietes landed the most number of punches with 194 out of 523 total (37 percent) while Palicte was less efficient with just 124 out of 830 (15 percent).
After the Sunday match the 36-year-old Nietes posted a 41-1-5 win-loss-draw card including 23 knockout wins while the 27-year-old Palicte improved to 24-2-1 with 20 stoppage victories.
This was the second All-Filipino world championship clash in 93 years, aside from the IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas’ successful title defense against Jonas Sultan on May 26.
Filipino fighters were also unfortunate in the supporting bouts. Filipina-Australian Louisa Hawton and Filipino-American Bruno Escalante lost to Brenda Flores and Alexandru Marin, respectively, via split decision./PN
