By Ian S Palmer
IBF Flyweight Champion Donnie Nietes of the Philippines will be defending his crown against Juan Carlos Reveco of Argentina at the Forum in Inglewood, California this Saturday, Feb. 24th. The bout can be seen live in North America on HBO while fans in the UK can catch the action on BoxNation. Nietes last fight was in April of 2017 when he beat Komgrich Nantapech by unanimous decision. Reveco was in the ring last September and he also beat Komgrich Nantapech by a 12-round unanimous decision. Nietes enters the bout on a 32-fight unbeaten streak and hasn’t lost since 2004. He’s also a former WBO Light Flyweight champion who defended his belt nine times over about five years.
Nietes left the 108 lb. division and gave up his title belt at the same time to move up to 112 lbs and the flyweight division where he had hoped to land a shot at Roman Gonzalez. However, Gonzalez vacated the division and moved up to 118 lbs. Nietes ended up beating Nantapech for the vacant IBF Flyweight Title last April and this will be his first defence. The 35-year-old will climb into the ring with an impressive record of 40-1-4 along with 22 Kos. Nietes’ lone defeat came at the hands of Angky Angkotta by way of a 10-round split decision back in 2004.
He’s also fought draws with Moises Fuentes, Greg Mangan, Carlo Besares and Nino Suelo over the years. Nietes turned pro in 2003 and has fought 327 rounds since then. He stands 5-feet-3-inches tall and has a reach of 65.5 inches. He’s also got decent power for a small man as his current knockout ratio stands at 49 per cent. His biggest wins have been against Edgar Sosa, Raul Garcia, Carlos Velarde, Manuel Vargas and Erik Ramirez. Nietes was also the WBO Minimumweight Champion from September of 2007 to August, 2010 and defended it four times.
The 34-year-old Reveco climbs through the ropes with a mark of 39-3 along with 19 Kos. He turned pro back in 2004 and has boxed a total of 293 rounds since. He stands 5-feet-2-inches tall with a reach of 63.5 inches. He’s an inch shorter than Nietes and has a two-inch reach disadvantage. Reveco isn’t really known as a big puncher either and carries around a current knockout ratio of 45 per cent. He has a pretty solid chin, but has been stopped once by Kazuto Ioka in the 11th round back in December of 2015 in a shot at the WBA Flyweight title.
Reveco was also been beaten by Ioka eight months earlier by majority decision when he lost his title to the Japanese boxer. His first loss came in 2007 when Brahim Asloum beat him by unanimous decision to take Reveco’s Flyweight Title in his second defence. He then won the interim WBA Title in June of 2011 and defended it twice. He beat Masayuki Kuroda in February of 2013 to regain the full-fledged WBA Flyweight Belt and defended it five times before running into Ioka. He was also the interim WBA Light Flyweight Champion for three fights in 2009/10 before moving up in weight.
Prediction…
This should be another interesting and exciting fight as Reveco is a former world champion and should give Nietes all he can handle. If Nietes is in top form he should should wear him down eventually though and retain his title.
