Nietes-Vargas Round-by-Round

Both fighters come atop the ring. Nietes team carries the WBO belt which is at stake.
Vargas, 28-3-1, 11 KOs.
Nietes, 21-4-3, 14KOs

Round 1.

Feeling Out round. Not much landed by both fighters. Good defense by both fighters so far. Nietes is more mobile and boxing well.

Nietes 10-9

Round 2.

Body shots by Nietes. Uppercuts by Nietes. Vargas unloads with a flurry. Hooks by Vargas. Vargas more active now.

Vargas 10-9

Round 3.

One-two from Nietes. Vargas with a left hook. Nice jabs from Nietes. Vargas missing with hooks, Nietes missing uppercuts. Good defense and boxing by Nietes.

Nietes 10-9

Round 4.

Inside fight now, not Nietes style. Nietes landing uppercuts and overhand rights. Vargas landing right hooks to Nietes. They trade inside.

Vargas 10-9

Round 5.

Nietes connects. Left again by Nietes. Nietes boxing well from the outside.

Nietes 10-9

Round 6.

Nietes connects to the body. Hooks to the body by Vargas. Hooks to the head by Vargas.

Vargas 10-9. What a close fight!!

Round 7.

Nietes attacks, lands with a right to the top. Good defense from Nietes, blocking and head movement. Uppercuts by Nietes. Body shots by Vargas.

Nietes 10-9.

Round 8.

Good Jabs by Nietes. Crowd really cheering for Vargas. Good boxing from Nietes as Vargas misses wildly and most of his shots were blocked. Close round, I think the crowd can really sway the close rounds to Vargas' favor.

Nietes 10-9.

Round 9.

Nietes slows down. Vargas connects to the body. Wild hooks by Nietes missing by a mile. Body shots by Vargas. Low blow from Vargas. Nietes must make this a convincing win. He is in a hostile territory with the fight too close for comfort.

Vargas 10-9.

Round 10.

Vargas slips. Nietes lands to the body. Jab lands for Nietes. Vargas still keeps on coming forward. Close round once again.

Nietes 10-9

Round 11.

Good boxing from Nietes. Vargas landing nothing, ineffective aggressiveness. Vargas lands a huge left to the head. That huge shot just made the round for Vargas. Nietes not landing, just boxing defensively.

Vargas 10-9.

Round 12.

They trade inside. Nietes boxing, Vargas still aggressive. This will really boil down to judges preferences. Good boxing? Aggressiveness? Nietes pawing with jabs.

Nietes 10-9


The Official Verdict:
116-110, Nietes
116-112, Vargas
118-110, Nietes

The Winner by Split Decision, and STILL the WBO Champion of the World, Donnie "Ahas" Nietes. I had it 115-113 for Nietes. Congratulations Donnie!!!

Double Celebration?

Donnie "Ahas" Nietes, 105pounds, defends his title in Mexico this Sunday against Mexican Manuel Vargas. The title fight would be the main supporting bout of Latin Fury XI featuring Mexico's Julio Cesar Chavez against Jason LeHoullier of USA.

 

Donnie Nietes and Manuel Vargas after today's weigh in 

We have featured Rodel "Batang Mandaue" Mayol of Cebu Philippines on this week's blog. He will challenge Ivan Calderon of Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico.

Ivan Calderon 107.4-lb vs Rodel mayol 107.3-lb

Will the Philippines continue to collect world boxing titles? We already have four current world champions, Manny Pacquiao (140), Marvin Sonsona (115), Brian Viloria (108) and Donnie Nietes (105).

It will be tough as both Nietes and Mayol will be fighting on their opponents' home turf. Boxing is one of the Philippines favorite sports and we have excelled on this field. Yet our boxers still has to contend and defend their titles outside. It is not a bad sign at all, but it would have been a lot easier on our guys if we can financially support championship bouts in a regular basis here at home. Remember Espinosa's title defense? Pacquiao's? These are sold out boxing events that were attended by thousands of Filipino boxing afficionados.

Nowadays, Pacquiao doesn't fight here anymore. Donaire and Viloria did, but that was just too few and too far in between. We are not yet Las Vegas, Mexico or Japan in terms of regular boxing championship events being held in our country.

If we could have Mayol and Nietes winning and defending their world titles, perhaps we could have a lot more boxing world championship fights held here in our beloved turf.