Nietes KOs Reveco; Dalakian wins title at Flyweight

By Derek Bonnett

On the Super Fly 2 undercard at Forum in Inglewood, California, Donnie Nietes stretched his win-streak into its fourteenth year with an impressive seventh round stoppage over former world champion Juan Carlos Reveco.

The Philippines long-standing champion started patiently using shifts in direction and a tight guard to fend off some of his Argentine challenger’s attack to the body. Reveco pressed well and established a smart mode of attack. Nietes worked efficiently to counter Reveco or defend against his offensive without upping his attack over the first two rounds. In the third, both fighters let their hands go more, but each caught a lot of leather with their gloves. Nietes began opening up more with his lead right to catch his challenge cleanly. Reveco moved forward constantly and did far better work than he was credited for by the HBO team, but he was clearly losing steam by the end of the fourth. Nietes threw smarter punches with excellent timing and seemingly had not even broken a sweat while Reveco charged forward with looping shots as the champion used distance to thwart his game plan through the fifth. Nietes,35, hurt Reveco late in the sixth, unnoticed at first because the punch landed just before the bell and camera angles were adjusting. The former world champion danced back to his corner on drunken legs a doomed challenger. Nietes jumped on Reveco to start the seventh. A right hook stunned the challenger worse and then the champion moved his punches to the body before dropping Reveco with a left hook. Reveco gamely rose, but the contest was called to a halt at the :53 mark.

Nietes, a three-division champion, retained his IBF flyweight belt for the first time in advancing his dossier to 41-1-4 (23). Reveco, 34, crashed to 39-4-0 (19). The performance rates among Nietes’ best as a professional and has put him in place as a rumored possible opponent for the recently vanquished Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua.

Also this evening, McWilliams Arroyo won a Fight of the Year contender for 2018 with a majority ten round decision over heavily favored Carlos Cuadras. Arroyo and Cuadras contributed well to the long-standing Puerto Rican-Mexican rivalry with a no quarter affair. Arroyo, 32, prevailed by scores of 95-95, 98-92 and 97-93. Arroyo improved to 17-3-0 (14). Cuadras, 29, drifted to 36-3-1 (27).

In untelevised action from the HBO card, rising Artem Dalakian claimed the vacant WBA flyweight title with a lopsided unanimous decision over all-time great Brian Viloria. Dalakian, 30, used height and distance to overcome the more experienced former world champion from odd angles. Dalakian, champion for the first time, raised his ledger to 16-0-0 (11). Viloria, 37, has already punched his ticket for the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but fell to 38-6-0 (23).