Negros boxer Donnie Nietes failed to use his old forms after he was defeated by Japanese Kazuto Ioka in the WBO world super flyweight title match at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Japan.
It was a one-sided unanimous decision win for the Japanese fighter, spoiling the Negrense to reclaim his title belt.
The Murcia, Negros Occidental suffered his first defeat in 18 years via a 118-110, 120-118, 117-111 unanimous verdict.
In the opening round, Ioka showed his aggressiveness with his distance hits but Nietes showed some accurate counter punching, particularly with the right hand over the jab, in the second frame.
It was a good clash in the middle of the fight as Ioka targeted Nietes’ body most of the time. The Negrense puncher opted to move more and punch less in the middle rounds.
Nietes suffered a huge cut above his left eye, but tried his best to go for the finisher in the last two rounds but Ioka was wise enough not to give the Filipino the opening to retain his world title.
The 40-year-old Nietes dropped his record to 43-2-6, including 23 stoppage wins, while Ioka improved his record to 29-2-0, including 15 KO wins.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old Ioka recorded his fifth successful title defense of the world championship. He previously won at the expense of Negrense boxer Aston Palicte on June, 2019 in Chiba City in Japan.
Filipino fighter Froilan Saludar (32-6-1, 22 KO wins), meanwhile, was also unsuccessful in the co-main event. He suffered a split decision loss to Japanese fighter Daigo Higa (18-2-1, 17 KOs).IMT Sports
