Renowned Filipino boxer Donnie Nietes added his latest world title belt to his collection today in Macao, China today.
Fighting Kazuto Ioka, Nietes came to the ring to the popular song ‘We Are The Champions’.
Starting off in the bout ‘Ahas’ showed he was all business after a brief battle of jabs in the first round between the two.
Although the smaller boxer, Nietes began to stamp his control on the fight in round two with some very strong counter punching.
The third round saw the use of the Nietes uppercut come into play and to good effect for him it should be noted.
When the boxers did trade it was Nietes who was coming off the stronger by the mid rounds and the uppercut was proving a lethal weapon for him as he boxed in a very relaxed manner, moving well and picking his shots confidently.
By round six however Ioka did start to have his own bit of success and was able to put in some decent work to the body.
Indeed, as the fight progressed into round seven and eight this momentum for Ioka continued as he began to find his groove more and more and pulled back into the fight.
Round nine and ten saw more strong work for Ioka as Nietes began to try to scramble and force his way back into the fight.
The 12th and final round saw both men put it on the line and throw caution to the wind at times in a highly entertaining final 12 minutes.
The final scorecards read118-110 Nietes, 116-112 Nietes, 116-112 for Ioka in favor of Nietes by split decision to give him the WBO world title.
