It will take nearly 100 years before the feat of Pancho Villa and Clever Sencio as the last Filipinos to fight for a world title in boxing gets duplicated. The long wait, however, will soon be over as Jerwin Ancajas is set to defend his IBF super flyweight title against Jonas Sultan in the upcoming months.
And it might not take another 100 years before two Filipinos square off for another world championship. In fact, in might only take a little over 100 days.
In the same division, two Filipino fighters are ranked first and second by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in their junior bantamweight category (super flyweight and junior bantamweight both mean 115 pounds) and a fight between them for the currently vacant title is definitely a possibility.
The longest reigning Filipino world champion Donnie Nietes will be vacating his IBF flyweight title to move north in his effort to conquer a championship in his fourth division. With a record of 41 wins (23 knockouts) against a single defeat and four draws, Nietes is the top-ranked contender in the WBO while youngster Aston Palicte (24 wins, two losses, 20 knockouts) is ranked second.
The two were in attendance at the 18th Gabriel "Flash" Elorde Boxing Awards and Banquet of Champions on Sunday, March 25 at Okada Manila.
According to Palicte's manager Jason Soong, the WBO has already informed him of their plans on finding a new champion after Naoya Inoue decided to move up in weight.
"They told me that their plan was to hold two eliminator bouts featuring the top four available boxers," he said. After Nietes and Palicte, the next WBO top contenders are former pound-for-pound King Roman Gonzales of Nicaragua and McWilliams Arroyo of Puerto Rico.
"They have not decided yet what the pairings would be and it's also important to note that they made it clear that availability would be key here since Gonzales wants to fight a tune-up first before taking on a tough fight as he's coming off two losses to WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand," Soong added. "So if he isn't available, they would move down the rankings to whoever would be willing and available to fight in the eliminators."
For Soong, it does not matter who Palicte would be matched up against but he would prefer that his fighter doesn't face Nietes unless it's for the world title.
"It would be great for Philippine boxing if Aston and Donnie face off for the WBO title because that means four of the top fighters in the world in the 115 division are all Filipinos (along with Ancajas and Sultan)," Soong said. "But I'm sure that Roy Jones Jr. Promotions has Aston's best interest in mind and I'm hoping the matches will be announced and bid out soon."
For Nietes, however, he would rather not undergo an eliminator before getting a title shot.
"When I move up, I always fight for the world titles," Nietes said. "So I want my next fight to also be for a world title if it were up to me."
When Nietes moved up to light flyweight, he only had a tune-up match in between his list title defense at 105 and his first title fight at 108 pounds. When he decided to move up to 112, Nietes captured the WBO intercontinental flyweight title while still holding the light flyweight version of the same title before winning the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) strap.
This has enabled Nietes to be the longest reigning Filipino world champion.
Nietes said going up against bigger opponents will not be a problem for him at 115 pounds because he has been facing bigger opponents all his life.
"I'm used to beating taller and bigger opponents," said the 5-foot-3 pugilist.
Asked about the possibility of fighting Palicte, Nietes answered that he's not against it.
"I just want to fight for a world title," he said. "I don't choose my opponents. I just fight whoever is in front of me," said the ALA-trained fighter who has not faced a Filipino foe since beating Robert Rubillar via unanimous decision back in 2006.