Max Kellerman: 'Donnie Nietes clearly won'

MANILA, Philippines — Max Kellerman, the American commentator who carries a very strong opinion in sports, has given his stake on the controversial draw between Donnie Nietes and Aston Palicte.

Kellerman said, “Nietes clearly won the fight.”

Sunday’s all-Filipino title showdown for the WBO super-flyweight crown ended in a very controversial draw at The Forum in Inglewood.

One judge had it 111-110 for Nietes, another scored it 116-112 for Palicte while the third judge scored it even at 114-114.

The draw stunned a lot of people who watched the fight, and denied Nietes a place in history as only the third Filipino boxer to win world titles in at least four weight classes.

“He (Nietes) won it pretty wide,” added Kellerman of HBO Boxing and ESPN First Take.

“It’s one thing for one judge to have it 114-114 a draw. It’s another thing for a judge to give the other guy, Palicte, eight rounds when at best he won half that,” he added.

Even Nietes was stunned by the decision but tried to hide his emotions.

“That’s boxing. Ganyan talaga,” he told The STAR in a phone interview from Inglewood, California, just hours after the fight.

“Yun ang tingin ng judges eh (That’s how the judges saw it). Hindi natin maiwasan (We can’t avoid it),” the 36-year-old Nietes added.

“That was a really bad decision,” added Kellerman.

Other ring observers agreed in saying that Nietes was robbed of a victory.

Scott Christ, a seasoned boxing chronicler, wrote that Nietes “seemed to clearly get the better of countryman Aston Palicte” during the fight.

“But in the end the judges came back with a puzzling split draw, robbing the 36-year-old veteran of what should have been a world title in a fourth weight class,” he added.

Nietes’ trainer said the draw felt like a painful defeat.

“Masakit dahil alam mong panalo (It hurts because you knew you won),” Edito Villamor told The STAR from California.

“Hindi ko alam (I don’t know),” he said.

“Simply put, the judges got this fight wrong. Well, two of them did,” said Christ in his article that came out of Bad Left Hook.