Donnie Nietes needs a big finish

Donnie Nietes vacated the WBO super flyweight title rather than have a mandatory rematch with countryman Aston Palicte. In a rare public statement he released a week ago, Nietes said he saw no point in redoing the bout which ended in a controversial split draw in September of last year. The judges scored it 118-110 for Nietes, 112-116 for Palicte, and 114-114. Given that there were some close rounds in that fight, the majority of spectators who saw the fight live expected a Nietes victory.

For years, the four-division world champion has been chasing the top champions in every weight class he has been in. Unfortunately, they’ve either moved up in weight, fought on other continents, or downright avoided him. In more recent years, ALA Promotions’ rival promoters have been giving unacceptable offers for someone of Donnie’s stature. They’ve low-balled purse offers, insisted he walk to the ring first, offered him the blue corner, dictated his arrival schedule, and all sorts of tricks in the hope of throwing him off his game. Naturally, ALA refused to bite. Donnie deserves better.

There are three reasons why Nietes is having difficulty staging a compelling championship fight with a big-name fighter. The common belief is that Nietes is humble, soft-spoken, and unspectacularly efficient. He is not a showman. But that is an artificial reason. Nietes has not lost since 2004, and has been a world champion for more than nine years, eclipsing Flash Elorde’s previous record of seven years. That alone should make him an enticing prospect.

The second reason is precisely that he is so good. Nietes is the rare boxer who trains and is in fighting shape all year-round. He fights with great honor and dignity. He is one of only 18 fighters who have won that many weight classes in the entire history of boxing. In other words, it is a gigantic risk to fight someone as skilled and disciplined as Nietes. The odds would be stacked against you. Consider, too, that Nietes has made no less than three world title defenses in Mexico, in front of hostile crowds. How do you beat someone like that?

The third and corollary reason is the business side of it. In a business where promoters often handle both fighters in a match, promoters of other elite boxers have no interest in risking their money-makers against a proven quantity like Nietes. The potential financial losses could be big. A loss would make the other camp’s title-holder a non-factor, a has-been. 

But now, there could be a possibility that Nietes becomes an attractive opponent. He will be turning 37 in May, an age when more than half of boxers have retired. Those who don’t know Nietes and the ALA system will think that this makes him vulnerable, and may use the Palicte fight as proof. Like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and many of his opponents, they could consider the Murcia native past his prime, beatable. Or so they would think. But they would be mistaken. Donnie is a very young 37, without the grave wear and tear of most fighters his age, and he watches his diet and never gets out of shape, training with all the younger pugs of the ALA stable.

Having said all of that, Donnie deserves an emphatic, dramatic victory over an elite, fellow future Hall of Famer. He has not really faced the dangerous kinds of opponents as, say, Manny Pacquiao has, and that is not his fault, but more a product of circumstance, as previously stated. 

Given the situation and the factor of time, ALA and Nietes may have to compromise. They may have to take some of the conditions of rival promoters if only to get Donnie in front of a bigger audience. Perhaps they could insist on a rematch clause to soften the blow of swallowing some pride. A smaller purse for a first title fight with a bigger guarantee for a second fight might be a reasonable ask. Donnie deserves a bigger spotlight. And the rest of the world must see one of boxing’s all-time greatest craftsmen before Father Time weighs in.