God was on Nietes’ side

Believe it or not, WBO lightflyweight champion Donnie Nietes could’ve lost to Mexican challenger Moises Fuentes by disqualification in their scheduled 12-round rematch at the Mall of Asia Arena last Saturday.

Nietes, who turned 32 last Tuesday, struck Fuentes after the Mexican was knocked down early in the ninth round. There was no malice intended. Nietes couldn’t check his momentum and delivered a blow while a dazed Fuentes was sprawled on the canvas. Referee Robert Byrd gave Fuentes the mandatory eight-count. After the Mexican got up, Byrd called Nietes to the center of the ring and motioned to the judges to deduct a point from the Filipino’s scorecard for the illegal punch.

If Fuentes decided to stay down and make it appear he couldn’t continue because of the “extra” blow, Byrd would’ve probably had no choice but to disqualify Nietes and declare the Mexican the winner and new champion. Of course, that would’ve been a travesty.

But it wouldn’t have been the first time for a disqualification under similar circumstances. In 1997, unbeaten WBC lightheavyweight champion Roy Jones, Jr. was on his way to halting challenger Montell Griffin at Atlantic City. He had floored Griffin in the seventh and in the ninth, it looked like just a matter of time before the end. Griffin took a series of blows and fell on one knee to clear his head. As Griffin’s eyes gazed at referee Tony Perez to follow the count, Jones unleashed a left and a right. Griffin pitched forward and dropped on his face. Perez called off the fight and declared Griffin, who was unable to continue or so it appeared, the winner and new champion by disqualification.

Five months later, Jones and Griffin met in a return bout. This time, Jones made sure of the outcome. He knocked out Griffin at 2:31 of the first round to erase the nightmare of the loss by disqualification.

In 2010, Filipino Denver Cuello was in Mexico to face hometown favorite Juan Hernandez in a minimumweight bout. Cuello was enroute to a win by knockout when a bloodied Hernandez slumped to the canvas. Cuello couldn’t stop himself from throwing a bonus shot and Hernandez took the cue to stay down. Mexican referee Gerardo Venzor rescued his countryman by disqualifying Cuello for the extra punch. Hernandez would’ve surely lost by knockout and was saved by Venzor from losing before his countrymen.

Luckily for Nietes, Fuentes got up from the first knockdown and didn’t stay down after taking the extra punch. If Fuentes acted like he couldn’t continue, would Byrd have ordered him to get up and fight like a man or would he have disqualified Nietes?

Byrd is a no-nonsense referee. He’d know if a fighter was faking it or not so he would’ve known how to deal with Fuentes if he pretended he couldn’t continue. A veteran of the California Highway Patrol, Byrd won’t be fooled into rewarding a fighter with an undeserved victory.

Byrd was the third man in the ring when Timothy Bradley scored a controversial win by split decision over Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in 2012. He also worked the fight where Filipino underdog Edrin Dapudong wrested the IBO superflyweight title from Gideon Buthelezi on a first round knockout in South Africa last year.

During the fight last Saturday, Nietes’ conditioning coach Nick Curson yelled at Byrd after Fuentes was given a third warning for a low blow. Usually, a third infraction merits a point deduction but that’s discretionary on the referee’s part. If there is no appreciable damage inflicted, the referee may opt not to penalize a fighter for a low blow even on a third warning. Byrd heard Curson yell and yelled back, “You do your job, I’ll do mine.” Byrd obviously meant he was in charge and in control of the action.

Fuentes got up from the first knockdown and was dropped twice more before Byrd waved it off. It was a sensational win for Nietes who battled Fuentes, named the Revelation of the Year 2012 by the Mexican magazine Box Y Lucha, to a majority draw last year. Fuentes won three in a row, two by KO, since the draw while Nietes fought just once, stopping Sammy Gutierrez. The Mexican will always be known for retiring the Puerto Rican legend Ivan Calderon whom he knocked out in five rounds in 2012. Before losing to Nietes, Fuentes had lost only once on a split decision to Hernandez, the same Mexican who was bailed out by referee Venzor in the Cuello fight.

ALA Gym chairman Antonio (Bidoy) Aldeguer said while Nietes did his part, it was a God-given victory, realizing he could’ve lost on a disqualification. Aldeguer said the plan is for Nietes to defend the WBO lightflyweight crown once or twice more then go for the big-money fights in the flyweight division next year.

Aldeguer’s son Michael, the president and CEO of ALA Promotions, said Nietes may fight just once more this year. Nietes is eight months short of eclipsing the late Flash Elorde’s record of seven years and three months in an uninterrupted reign as world junior lightweight champion from 1960 to 1967. If Nietes holds on to the WBO crown until December this year, he will have matched Elorde’s record. Nietes won the WBO minimumweight title in September 2007 then relinquished it to annex the WBO lightflyweight crown in 2011 so his reign in two divisions has been uninterrupted. Elorde, however, set the record as champion in only one weight class.

Aldeguer said his dream is for Nietes to battle Giovani Segura, Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman (Chocolatito) Gonzalez in that order. Segura is a former WBO lightflyweight champion while Estrada is the current WBO/WBA flyweight titleholder whose last three victims were Filipinos Brian Viloria, Milan Melindo and Richie Mepranum. Gonzalez is the unbeaten Nicaraguan with a 39-0 record, including 33 KOs, and was formerly the WBA lightflyweight ruler.