After 12 rounds of boxing, Donnie “Ahas” Nietes went on to grab the WBO Light Flyweight Crown from Mexico’s Ramon Garcia Hirales after a unanimous but unpopular decision by the judges. The judges scored the bout 115-113, 118-110 and 117-111 all in favor of Nietes.
The crown is the second world title for Nietes after holding on to his WBO Minimum Weight title for four years before moving up in the weight division.
Nietes controlled the first five rounds but the Mexican fighter dominated the later rounds. The Mexicans cried robbery and some Filipinos were surprised with the unanimous decision. From reactions on Facebook, Twitter and blogs, boxing aficionados who have their own scorecard had a mix score results. Some agreed to the judges’ scores, others expect a draw while others favored the Mexican fighter.
It was a hard-fought win for Nietes who suffered a cut on his left eyebrow after an accidental headbutt on the 11th round. Nietes came back aggressively on that round upon he cheering of the hometown crowd. There might be a rematch soon as the Mexicans were crying for blood.
AJ “Bazooka” Banal and Albert Pagara also won their respective bouts in the undercard of Pinoy Pride 9. Watch the replay of the fight to be aired by ABS-CBN today at around 10:30am.
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