Donnie Nietes claims world title in third weight class with decision over Komgrich Nantapech

Nietes is only the third Filipino to win belts in three divisions.

The fight world is stuck between recovering from Joshua-Klitschko and gearing up for Canelo-Chavez, leaving the rest of the newsbeat a little starved for content, so let’s have some more weekend results.

Former two-division champion Donnie Nietes, who had the misfortune of moving to flyweight right as Roman Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada jumped to 115, defeated Thai challenger Komgrich Nantapech this past Saturday to take home the vacant IBF title. Nietes and Nantapech were the top-ranked contenders by the IBF after champion Johnriel Casimero left to join the slaughtering grounds at super flyweight.

Despite a career spent almost entirely in Thailand and no standout wins on his record, Nantapech (22-4, 15 KO) reportedly gave Nietes (40-1-4, 22 KO) everything he could handle with a middle-round surge. Nietes, making his second appearance at 112, had trouble making the weight and suffered damage to his left hand, but still managed to take the decision with two 117-111s and a 115-113 from the Thai judge.

Nietes joins Zou Shiming, Juan Hernandez, and Kazuto Ioka at the top of the division, with the likes of Juan Carlos Reveco and Andrew Selby waiting below in the IBF ranks.