MANILA – Aside from capturing the WBO world super flyweight belt, Donnie Nietes will be eyeing revenge when he battles fellow Negrense Aston Palicte tomorrow at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
A Murcia, Negros Occidental native, Nietes is hoping to get back at Bago City’s Palicte who made his cousin Gerald Nietes cry during their amateur days.
“This will be revenge,” Nietes said in an interview. “Palicte beat my cousin Gerald many years ago in the amateurs. Now the time has come for me to exact revenge for my cousin.”
Aside from having a payback for his cousin, Donnie is also determined to capture his fourth world boxing championship in as many divisions even if he faces a fellow Negrense.
“Good thing with this fight is, whoever wins, the world championship is in the Philippines,” Nietes said. “It is just unfortunate that the fight will happen abroad. But I am excited since I am back at the Superfly card.”
He added: “Aston might have the edge on height and speed but I have the advantage when it comes to experience. This is boxing and not basketball so the height disparity is a nonfactor.”
The 36-year-old Nietes is set to parade his 41-1-4 win-loss-draw card, including 23 knockout wins. He has not tasted defeat since his split decision loss to Indonesian Angky Angkotta in 2004.
The 27-year-old Palicte, on the other hand, has an impressive 24-2-0 win-loss-draw card, with 20 stoppage victories. He is also on a roll winning his last four matches via stoppages.
This was the second All-Filipino world championship clash after 93 years aside from IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas’ successful title defense against Jonas Sultan on May 26./PN
