THE Philippines remains without a world boxing champion.
Donnie Nietes failed in his bid to return at the top, losing by unanimous decision against Japanese Kazuto Ioka Wednesday night in their 12-round title rematch at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.
Donnie Nietes vs Kazuto Ioka recap
The 40-year-old Filipino lost by scores of 118-110, 117-111, 120-108, as Ioka retained his WBO super-flyweight crown for the fifth straight time.
The loss left the country with no current world champion in the light of Mark Magsayo’s 12 round split decision loss against Mexican Rey Vargas to yield his WBC featherweight title a few days ago at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Nietes fell to 43-2-6 with 23 KOs as he failed to score a repeat against Ioka, the same Japanese fighter he beat via split decision in 2018 and won the same WBO 115-lbs crown.
The 33-year-old Japanese champion is now 29-2 with 15 KOs and is poised for a possible unification fight with WBA title holder Juan Francisco Estrada, Jesse Rodriguez of the WBC, and IBF’s Fernando Martinez.
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