Nietes drops shot at regaining title

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine boxing continued its slump after Donnie Nietes failed to wrest his old title against Japanese Kazuto Ioka in their rematch at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan Wednesday night.

The 40-year-old Nietes, aiming to regain the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight title, was slow to react to Ioka’s aggressiveness en route to a one-sided unanimous decision loss.

The three judges scored the bout 118-110, 120-108 and 117-111 all for Ioka, who thus avenged his loss to Nietes the first time they fought in 2018 – interestingly for the same WBO diadem that was vacant at that time.