Sleeping with a snake

Newly crowned WBO lightflyweight champion Donnie Nietes of Murcia, Negros Occidental, sleeps with a snake. He’s not afraid of getting bitten. He’s not frightened of his pet Burmese python wrapping itself around his neck and suffocating him. Maybe, that’s why Nietes is so tough, mentally and physically. For sure, he doesn’t scare easy.

Last Saturday, Nietes walked into the ring with a python, named Don 2, curled on his shoulders to face WBO 108-pound titlist Ramon Garcia at the University of St. La Salle gym in Bacolod City. Handlers took away the snake before Garcia made his appearance. Nobody wanted to risk a snake attack on the Mexican. Garcia was strictly for Nietes to devour.

ALA Boxing owner Tony Aldeguer said Nietes bought the python for P6,000 from a Negros Occidental snake breeder over a year ago. “His first snake died and Donnie wanted a replacement,” said Aldeguer. “Donnie used to take care of my pet snakes in Cebu and I gave him one of my baby snakes which he called Don. He would bring the snake with him into the ring for fights in Cebu, like it was his lucky charm.”

For the Bacolod outing, Nietes took Don 2 – 1 1/2 years old – with him in a car from Cebu. He boarded his car in a ferry with Don 2 as passenger.

Nietes, a bachelor, lives with Don 2, younger sister Joann and a cousin in a two-bedroom house he built from his ring earnings in Mandaue.  

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“I sleep with my snake,” said Nietes. “At the moment, I have a girlfriend (Joy) but we don’t have plans of getting married yet. But when I get married, my snake will still be in my bed. I think my wife won’t be scared of getting bitten. I think people are more scared of small snakes. Anyway, I’ll be in bed, too.”

Nietes’ relatives came in full force to cheer for him against Garcia. His father Josue and mother Renella are his biggest supporters. His older brother Junel, an accountant, and sister Joann were there, too. So was his father’s brother Dan, a retired fighter and former Philippine flyweight champion who used to be managed by Aldeguer. Nietes’ father, a commercial photographer, brought his camera along to immortalize his son’s appointment with destiny. 

“There was so much pressure for me to win because Negros Occidental is my home province,” said Nietes, the middle of three children. “I never felt this kind of pressure before, not even in Mexico where I made three successful title defenses. I’m not sure if I’d like to fight in Bacolod again because of the pressure. But of course, that depends on Sir ALA and Sir Michael (Aldeguer). I’ll fight wherever they want me to. Maybe, in my next big fight, it could be in Manila or Cebu. We could reserve Bacolod for a bigger fight.”

Aldeguer confirmed Nietes’ sentiments. “Yes, he told me about the pressure but I think the hometown support was incredible and gave him a big lift,” he said. “Everywhere Donnie went, he was mobbed by fans asking for his autograph and taking his picture. At the gym, we had probably 9,000 to 10,000 people. The atmosphere was fantastic. Michael did an excellent job of promoting the show and everything went like clockwork, very efficiently staged. Even the foreign visitors were impressed. I’m very, very happy for Donnie because there was so much at stake in the fight. It wasn’t just a matter of winning the title. History was involved because Donnie wanted to become the seventh Filipino fighter to win at least two world titles in different divisions.”

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Nietes’ win over Garcia by unanimous decision installed him in the elite circle of Filipino fighters with at least two world crowns in different weight classes, joining Manny Pacquiao, Gerry Peñalosa, Dodie Boy Peñalosa, Luisito Espinosa, Brian Viloria and Nonito Donaire Jr. Nietes captured the WBO minimumweight championship in 2007 and relinquished the throne early this year after four defenses to move up to the lightflyweight class. Down the road, Nietes confided that he’d like to add the flyweight crown to his collection.

As it is, Nietes is already in the record books as one of the world’s five greatest minimumweights ever – at least in the eyes of boxing historian Bert Randolph Sugar and ring expert Teddy Atlas who set it in stone in their joint effort “The Ultimate Book of Boxing Lists.”

Nietes, 29, said retirement is far from his mind and he plans to fight at least five more years or up to when he turns 35.  Meanwhile, he’s making good use of his paychecks. Aside from the house in Mandaue, Nietes has used his earnings wisely to start a piggery and work a one-hectare ricefield in Murcia.