Nietes, Servania in top form as Pinoy Pride 18 card nears

WBO Lightflyweight champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes and fellow ALA Gym boxer Genesis “Azukal” Servania are both in tip-top shape for their much awaited bouts in the Pinoy Pride 18 dubbed World Champion Vs. World Champion on March 2 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

Nietes (31W-1L-3D-17KOs) admitted he is facing another tough Mexican in WBO minimum weight champion Moises “Moi” Fuentes (16W-1L-8KOs).

“I will do my best to win this. I am not pressured but I won’t take this fight easily because there’s a lot at stake,” said Nietes during yesterday’s public sparring session at the Paseo Arcenas in Banawa.

Fuentes, 27, will be arriving on Feb. 21 and will be accompanied by his manager Jorge Barrera Tapia, sparring partner Martín Tecoapetla, head coach Genaro Domínguez and promoter Aaron Segura.

For those expecting former champion Marco Antonio Barrera’s presence on Fuentes’ arrival this week, they will have to wait a bit longer as a report from Philboxing.com said that Manny Pacquiao’s former foe will be arriving on fight night.

Nietes described Fuentes as a boxer who keeps on coming forward throwing jabs and straights as a combination. “I can knock him out, it’s a huge possibility and my waving and ducking movements will be effective in this fight” said Nietes. ”

For now, Nietes is completing his two-month training under the supervision of veteran trainer Editho Villamor.

Villamor also cited Servania (19-0,6KOs)  for having a wonderful training for his fight against another ring veteran Angky “Time Bomb” Angkotta of Indonesia (26W-8L-1D-14KOs).

“We all know that Servania already passed a lot of tough tests inside the ring, this time another test will give him another chance of proving himself as one of the best featherweight so we focused more on developing his knockout power so that he can be more explosive on fight night.”

Servania and Angkotta will fight for the WBO Asia Pacific Super Bantamweight belt in the co-main event of the Nietes-Fuentes duel. /CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL