Donnie "Ahas" Nietes made a triumphant return to the ring as he picked up a unanimous decision victory against Pablo Carrillo at the Caesars Palace in Dubai, early Sunday morning Manila time. It was a neat boxing lesson from the former four-division world champion as he dictated the tempo and forced his younger opponent to fight his fight.
All three judges scored the fight for Nietes, 96-95, 98-92, and 99-91, now he has a familiar red belt around his waist as the fight was for the WBO Intercontinental super flyweight title.
Nietes picked up his 43rd win against a single loss and five draws as he showed absolutely no signs of ring rust even if he was inactive for a total of 27 months. If anything, the break might have worked to his advantage as it kept him fresh. His Colombian foe dropped to 25 wins, eight losses, and a draw.
From the onset, it was clear that the Filipino was the better technical fighter. What made the fight interesting was the power of Carrillo and his willingness to brawl. However, Nietes was not going to allow Carrillo to get into any kind of rhythm.
The 38-year-old Negros Occidental native used his superior ring smarts to move around the ring and stay out of trouble. Nietes engaged when he needed to but stay just outside the reach of Carrillo's powerful right hands.
The 5-foot-3 Filipino, on a rare occasion, actually had the height advantage against the 5-foot-0 Colombian and he was able to use his length to keep Carrillo at bay. Nietes threw 241 jabs according to CompuBox, landing 39, which allowed him to dictate the distance for much of the fight. When he wasn't jabbing, Nietes was landing uppercuts with both hands and right straights to pile up the rounds.
Carrillo, six years Nietes' junior at 32 years of age, was not able to take advantage of his youth. He could have made the fight very different if he fought more actively but he allowed the more experienced Nietes to throw more punches throughout the match (425 to 416), which basically made it impossible for him to win.
Nietes last fought in December 2018 where he defeated Kazuto Ioka of Japan via a split decision to win the WBO super flyweight title. However, he relinquished the belt without a single defense as he did not want a rematch against fellow Filipino Aston Palicte.
With Cebu's ALA Boxing Gym closing shop largely due to the pandemic, Nietes waited for the best opportunity to return to action and he was given a great chance by D4G Boxing Promotions as the co-main event to the WBO super featherweight match between defending champion Jamel Herring and former two-division titleholder Carl Frampton.
With the win, Nietes hopes that his name will once again come up in discussions for big fights in the 115-pound division. He has often mentioned WBA and WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand, and Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua as his dream opponents.