ASTON ‘Mighty’ Palicte offered size and power, but the older, smaller Donnie ‘Ahas’ Nietes executed to perfection a fight plan that should have earned him the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight (115 lbs.) championship.
Instead, two blind mice, err judges, robbed the grizzled Nietes a fourth division title that would have placed him in elite company.
Believe it or not, judge Robert Hoyle scored in 116-112 for Palicte while Max DeLuca had the audacity to rule the fight a draw at 114-114. Only the scorecard of judge Daniel Sandoval, 118-110 for Nietes, made sense.
In a situation where two judges are split on their choice of the winner and the third one cannot even figure out who won, the fight was ruled a split draw. In a draw, the status quo is retained and the WBO crown thus remains vacant and Nietes and Palicte remain the frontrunners for it. For the record, this writer scored the fight for Nietes, 117-111.
True enough, a collective howl of protest from the boxing community greeted the outrageous verdict.
“Nietes clearly won the fight, he won it pretty wide,” mused noted HBO boxing commentator/analyst Max Kellerman. “It is one thing for one judge to have it 114-114, a draw, it’s another thing for the other judge to give the other guy, Palicte, eight rounds when at best he won only half that. It was a really bad decision.”
Nietes’ unorthodox style made it difficult for Palicte to establish any offensive rhythm. Nietes employed a classic dip, roll and counter maneuver that exposed Palicte’s defensive lapses. Facing a towering adversary, Nietes dipped to force Palicte to push his punches downward, thus exposing his dangling head. Nietes then rolled backwards, but maintained just enough space for him to launch counter shots that repeatedly caught Palicte’s unguarded jaw. Nietes stuck to this fight plan throughout the 12 rounds and Palicte failed to come up with a clear-cut retaliatory measure.
Palicte actually started well, taking the opening round as Nietes wisely chose to bid his time. Nietes took control in the next two rounds as he started to execute his fight plan.
By the end of the third round, Palicte was instructed by his corner to vary his offense which Nietes had clearly figured out. Palicte encountered some success in the fourth round by landing some short uppercuts when Nietes got too close. Surprisingly, Palicte did not pursue this approach and spent most of the fight throwing predictable left jab-right straight combinations that lacked their usual snap.
For a big guy, Palicte should have been more physical on Nietes; he should have bullied him into the ropes and bombarded him in the corner without remorse. Instead, Palicte allowed Nietes to keep the fight at the center of the ring and this gave Nietes all the space he needed to conduct a counter-punching clinic.
As things stand, Nietes remains in search of a fourth division title. Only two Filipino fighters, Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire Jr., have won at least four regular division crowns. The WBO super flyweight title remains vacant and Nietes and Palicte remain the No.1 and No. 2 contender, respectively. Both fighters are not ranked in the other organizations (WBC, IBF, and WBA) and have nowhere else to go. Unless one of them moves up in weight, a return bout is a certainty.
To their credit, both camps have expressed interest in a return bout. “Willing kami, kahit saan,” Nietes’ trainer Edito Villamor told this writer. “Nietes did his part and Palicte did his best, let’s see in a rematch,” countered Palicte’s trainer Rodel Mayol.
Word is that a return bout might take place by December. There is really no other way to settle the controversial decision than for the fighters to lace up the gloves and do it again. Nietes is charging it all to experience while Palicte can only hope that he has learned his lesson and will come out charging like a bull the next time they meet.
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