AS promised, Donnie Nietes put on a show and destroyed Juan Carlos Reveco in seven rounds to retain his International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight crown Sunday (Manila time) at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
The 34-year-old Filipino bombarded the Argentine challenger with a flurry of punches in the seventh round and had him down on the canvas following a perfectly executed uppercut.
Reveco, a former two-time world champion, managed to get up, but his corner decided he had enough and threw in the towel at the 53-second mark of the round.
Nietes, the pride of Murcia, Negros Occidental, improved to 41-1, including 23 KOs, as he did very well in his first pay-per-view fight over HBO as an undercard in the Sor Rungvisal-Juan Francisco Estrada title match for the World Boxing Council super-flyweight championship.
Both fighters started the bout rather tentatively, until Nietes carried the fight to Reveco in the sixth round.
The champion delivered a vicious counter right hand that staggered the challenger just as the round ended. Reveco went to his corner obviously with rubbery legs that the ring doctor was called to check him in between rounds before being allowed to continue.
It proved to be the beginning of the end for the Argentinian.
Reveco’s record fell to 39-4, with 19 KOs as he failed to win a third world title.
Nietes was defending his IBF title for the first time since outpointing Komgrich Nantapech in a 12-round unanimous decision in April of last year.