Nietes eyes new title shot, thinks he has ‘1 or 2 fights at world level’ left

MANILA, Philippines – Donnie “Ahas” Nietes believes he still has some venom behind his punches as he is now eyeing a new title shot after his convincing unanimous decision loss to Kazuto Ioka last Wednesday, July 13.

“I was defeated but, without question, I can still fight for word titles again,” the 40-year-old told boxing promotion Probellum.

“There is no doubt in my mind that I can challenge once again, and I see myself probably having one or two more fights at world level before I hang up my gloves inside the ring.”

Nietes, despite losing 108-120, 110-118 and 111-117 to Ioka, is keeping a positive mindset that he can still go for another crown, and join a short list of fighters who got a world title in their 40s.

While the former four-division world champion said he is not complaining about his last fight, he also said he didn’t get the fight he wanted out of his Japanese foe.

“I lost the fight on points, and I felt that Ioka did not want to try and deliver a knockout win for his fans and was just happy to win the fight on the scorecards,” he said.

“I was not able to put as much pressure on Ioka as I would have liked.  I was waiting for Ioka to move in and throw his shots, so that I could hit him with my big counters, but it didn’t happen often enough.”

Nietes (43-2-6, 23 knockouts) last won on April 3, 2021 against Pablo Carillo for the vacant WBO International super flyweight title. – Rappler.com

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