Nietes nears top form for WBO title defense

CEBU, Philippines - Two-division world champion Donnie ‘Ahas’ Nietes (31-1, 17KOs) of the ALA Boxing Gym is close to peak form two weeks before his WBO light flyweight title defense against former world titlist Sammy ‘Guty’ Gutierrez (33-9, 23KOs) headlining the 23rd edition of the Pinoy Pride series dubbed as ‘Filipinos vs Latinos’ on November 30 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

This is supposed to be a tune-up fight for Nietes, but the 31-year-old Filipino ring star is in for a dangerous task against Gutierrez, who once reigned as the WBA minimumweight king.

“We just saw the tapes of his (Gutierrez) fights and we can say that he is one tough warrior and a very dangerous opponent,” said ALA chief tactician Edito Villamor. “I don’t consider this is a tune-up fight for Donnie because this guy is a strong boxer.”

The pride of Murcia, Negros Occidental will try to dispatch Gutierrez before his scheduled rematch with his Mexican rival Moises Fuentes next year. The two first fought last March 3 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino and their bout ended in a controversial majority draw decision.

Nietes is on the final stage of his three-month training camp and has logged in close to a hundred rounds of no-holds-barred sparring session.

“Donnie is conditioned going to this fight. He has sparred almost a hundred rounds against Milan Melindo, Rocky Fuentes and other ALA Gym fighters so I can say that he is really prepared against Gutierrez,” said Villamor.

In the other feature of the double world championship showdown, Merlito ‘Tiger’ Sabillo (23-0, 12KOs) will out his WBO minimumweight belt for the first time against Nicaraguan superstar Carlos Buitrago (27-0, 16 KOs).

Also seeing action in the slambang show co-presented by ALA Promotions and ABS-CBN Sports are other marquee fighters from the fabled ALA gym in junior welterweight prospect Jason ‘El Niño’ Pagara, former two-time world title challenger AJ ‘Bazooka’ Banal and Milan ‘El Metodico’ Melindo. (FREEMAN)