Nietes not pressuring himself to beat Elorde's record

World Boxing Organization light flyweight champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes, who defends his title against Mexican banger Carlos Velarde at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino on November 15, is not pressured to surpass the record of Hall-of-Famer Gabriel “Flash” Elorde who reigned as world junior lightweight champion for seven years and three months.

Respected American strength and conditioning coach Nick Curson told Yahoo Philippines that Nietes who would be a world champion for seven years, one month and fifteen days when he enters the ring in the main event of the 28th edition of tremendously successful “Pinoy Pride” series edition “doesn’t  care about beating Elorde’s record. He is very respectful of the great Filipino world champion and only wants to win and remain a champion.”

Curson who was credited for Nietes’ awesome showing in his mandatory rematch with Moises Fuentes whom he dropped three times in the ninth round to win by a knockout said  Nietes “is in far better shape than in his last fight and has put on a noticeable increase in size.”

He said that even at 32 years of age he believes Nietes (33-1-4 with 19 knockouts)  “is really entering his prime and will display the same power and speed as he did in his last fight but with superior endurance and a few new tricks up his sleeve.”

ALA Gym’s head trainer Edito “Ala” Villamor said that their fighters are not taking their opponents lightly because they realize that the Mexicans are warriors.

Nietes has trained harder than ever for his voluntary title defense against Carlos Velarde.

He knows that Velarde is a typical Mexican fighter whose aggressive style ranged against the skill and ring savvy of the Filipino makes for an exciting fight with boxing fans in Cebu and neighboring provinces grabbing tickets and assuring ALA Promotions and partners ABS-CBN of a sell-out crowd.

The fight is an important milestone in the career of the humble, soft-spoken Nietes, who rose from mopping the floor at the famed ALA Gym years ago to become one of the top world champions in the lower weight divisions. The Filipino champ is, whether he thinks about it or not, is  on the threshold of surpassing the record of the great Elorde.

Nietes has reigned unbeaten since he won the WBO minimum weight title from Thailand’s Pornsawan Porpramook ( Kratingdaenggym) on September 30, 2007 and went on to capture the WBO light flyweight title from Ramon Garcia Hirales four years later.

Even though Velarde lost by a fifth-round TKO in his fight against WBA minimum champion Ryo Miyazaki on May 8, 2013, the Mexican was in the battle all the way with all three judges scoring it an even 38-38 at the end of four rounds before Velarde got a little careless and paid the price.

He has clearly learned from that lesson and scored three victories since then against worthy opponents, boosting his confidence for the Nietes showdown.

The commitment of Nietes to his career and the influence Curson has had in strengthening the ALA boxers he works with both physically and mentally can be seen by the manner in which Nietes responded to the  grueling plyometrics routine introduced by the strength and conditioning coach as he prepared to erase the memory of a very close encounter with Fuentes the first time they met with Nietes salvaging his title through a majority draw.

It is significant that the two judges who scored the fight even at 114-114 were respected Americans Adalaide Byrd and Pat Russell.

A sharper, more focused Nietes who had only occasionally used his lethal right hand behind his rapier-like left jab in their first fight, honed the combinations when he destroyed former WBC Silver champion Sammy Gutierrez in three rounds in a tune-up fight on November 30, 2013 at the Araneta Coliseum before the mandatory rematch with Fuentes just under seven months later.

Fuentes was accompanied by Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera who himself was stunned by the demolition job on his protégé by Nietes, who dropped the Mexican three times in the ninth round before Robert Byrd had seen enough and called a halt.

It is this kind of form that Nietes is expected to showcase against Velarde.