Nietes Retains WBO Crown

Minimum weight defending champion Nietes retained his belt after withstanding Mexican Mario “Dragoncito” Rodriquez

Filipino WBO minimum weight defending champion Nietes retained his belt after withstanding Mexican Mario “Dragoncito” Rodriquez with a unanimous 12-round decision at the sweltering Auditorio Luis Estrada Medina in Guasave, Sinaloa in Mexico yesterday.

Nietes was clearly in control in the early rounds but later faltered as Rodriquez came on strong in the later rounds. But the Filipino fighter survived the fight without being knocked down, and has now successfully defended his title four times, three of those in Mexico.

“I wanted to knock him out because I was afraid of losing by a hometown decision,” said Nietes. “I broke his nose and I thought the referee would stop it."

“But the guy was durable. I couldn’t even knock him down. I hit with a lot of good shots and he kept coming back,” the champion added.

Both fighters withstood the heat, which hovered from 35 to 38 degrees in Guasave, and was worsened by the warm conditions in the boxing hall, which was not air-conditioned.

The 28-year old Fighter from Murcia, Negros Occidental province, Philippines, dominated in the early going, throwing strong left jabs. In the eighth round, the nose of Rodriquez was already bloodied from the relentless attack.

Rodriguez countered during the 10^th round, giving the Filipino a nasty cut in his left eyebrow.

“I faded at the end.” Nietes admitted. “But I knew I had a big lead. I don’t think Rodriguez won a single round in the first eight rounds. He never gave up. He was determined to win because he didn’t want to disappoint the hometown fans.”

Alejandro Lopez Cid of Mexico City scored it 118-110, Levi Martinez of New Mexico, 119-109 and Thomas Nardone of Florida, 116-112 — all for Nietes.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Tuesday August 17 2010, 9:09 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0