Bacolod City— Donnie Nietes’ so-called homecourt advantage factor, which Ramon Hirales Garcia tried to undermine, turned out to be the difference-maker.
Nietes confessed that he thought of giving up when fatigue set in in the middle rounds but the hometown cheers what pushed him to keep going.
“I was really tired maybe because of the strict diet that I followed leading to the fight. I thought of quitting but when I heard the crowd cheering on me, I told myself to go on because it would be very shameful to lose the fight in front of my hometown fans,” said Nietes, who cried hard at the dugout after his gripping unanimous win over Garcia in the Pinoy Pride 9 last Saturday at the University of La Salle Coliseum.
Nietes, thus, stole Garcia’s WBO lightflyweight crown, making the prized ALA Gym fighter a two-division world champion.
Nietes joined a group of elite Filipino boxers who have won at least two division world title that include Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire Jr., Gerry Penalosa, Dodie Boy Penalosa, Lusito Espinosa and Brian Viloria.
Connecting on uppercuts and hooks, Nietes was very effective in the early goings but looked spent after five rounds.
Sensing that Nietes was in trouble, the sell-out crowd started chanting his name at the end of the 10th round.
Round 11 saw the two boxers engage in a torrid exchange. A clash of heads opened a cut above Nietes’ left eye.
“The crowd and the cut really fired me up. I just gave it all in the last two rounds and I am very glad that I was able to get the win. I couldn’t explain the feeling. I still couldn’t believe that I am a two-division world champion now,” said Nietes.
The scores were all for Nietes. Lisa Giampa had it 118-110, Carlos Ortiz 117-111, and Danrex Tapdasan 115-113.
The scores of Giampa and Ortiz, both Americans, didn’t sit well for Garcia’s camp.
ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer said the outcome was just right, saying Nietes won seven of the 12 rounds.
“It was not a great fight but it was a close fight. Donnie deserved the win. Donnie really knows how to win although there are still things that need to be improved,” said ALA Gym founder Antonio Aldeguer.
Banal triumphs
Meanwhile, AJ “Bazooka” Banal was also a big winner, totally dominating the erstwhile unbeaten Mario Briones via unanimous decision to retain the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title.
Briones kept coming forward but Banal showed tremendous counter-punching, landing several solid head-to-the-body shots.
The judges all scored the bout for Banal: 118-107, 115-110, 117-108.
Banal was meted one-point deduction for a low blow while Briones was deducted two points for a low blow and for hitting while holding.
With the win, Banal now has 26 wins with 19 knockouts, one loss and one draw.
Briones dropped to 20W-1L-1D-14 KOs.
Albert Pagara scored his first win against a foreign opponent when he dominated Tanzanian Shaaban Madilu.
Pagara downed Madilu thrice in the early rounds en route to the easy win. Scores were 80-69, 80-69, 78-71, for Pagara.
Merlito Sabillo of Bacolod City pocketed the OPBF minimumweight crown with unanimous win over Baguio City’s Tejares Singwancha.
The three judges all favored Sabillo, 116-110, 118-108, 118-108.