By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Despite scoring an impressive ninth round knockout over Moises Fuentes after dropping him three times in round nine on May 10, 2014 and scoring a lopsided unanimous decision over Francisco Rodriguez Jr. who fought Fuentes in a title eliminator but lost after failing to make the weight, WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel has directed Nietes to defend his title against Fuentes for a third time.

Boxing Scene reported that it was a bout marked by wild exchanges and several shifts of momentum that left fans giving them an encore round of applause at the end with Fuentes winning by a split decision.

ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer is prepared to follow the WBO directive and plans to stage the fight in the sprawling Cebu City Sports Complex where Z “The Dream” Gorres drew some 25,000 fans in a WBO flyweight title bout against Mexico’s Fernando  Montiel, but told the New Standard/BoxingScene.com he is not averse to holding the Nietes title defense in Mexico should they come to terms with Zanfer Promotions headed by Fernando Beltran.

Nietes has successfully defended his world minimumweight title in Mexico against several contenders and is not afraid to fight Fuentes in his homeland.

WBO Asia Pacific head Leon Panoncillo earlier told us that the final approval of the title fight will be made by the WBO Championships Committee and president Valcarcel and that if “the parties don’t agree there will be a purse bid.”