Twerk it like Donnie

Shortly after Donnie “Ahas” Nietes successfully defended his World Boxing Organization (WBO) light flyweight (108 pounds) title with a lopsided decision over Mexican challenger Francisco Rodriguez Jr., WBO president Francisco Varcar¬cel approached the broadcast table where this writer and Ronnie Natha¬nielsz were seated and told us: “He (Nietes) took him (Rodriguez) to school.”

Indeed, Nietes brought out the diploma he earned from the school of hard knocks and administered a counterpunching clinic on hush puppy Rodriguez Before the fight, the 21-year-old Rodriguez offered the credentials of a genuine threat, having unified the minimumweight (105 pounds) championship and given feared Nicaraguan slugger Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez plenty of problems during their 2013 meeting. But as WBO prexy Varcarcel hinted, Rodriguez’s weight issues may have contributed to his failure to consistently hound Nietes on offense. Rodriguez hounded Merlito Sabillo to no end in posting a riveting 10th round stoppage in March 2014 for the WBO minimumweight crown. Five months later, Rodriguez rumbled with Japanese Katsunari Takayama to unify the WBO and IBF minimum weight crowns in a fight that was picked ‘Fight of the Year’ by ESPN.com.