By Ronnie Nathanielsz

A supremely confident WBO minimumweight champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes says its only swine flu that scares him not interim champion Manuel Vargas  whom he battles in the Mexican’s hometown of Jalisco on July 18.

Nietes who took the Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles, Saturday night along with trainer Edmund Villamor and world-rated stablemate AJ “Bazooka” Banal spoke to BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports at the airport prior to their departure.

Nietes said he was “very well prepared for what will be a good fight” and that he had sparred extensively with WBO world No.1 Milan Melindo, Philippine flyweight champion Rocky Fuentes and Roland del Castillo and would continue training for the next three weeks at the Wild Card gym of Freddie Roach.

The 27 year old champion who hails from Bacolod City said he had watched four or five fight tapes of Vargas and said Vargas “is strong, a fighter and a body puncher” but that he had “studied all his moves and how to beat him.”

Nietes said “I am very confident and am not afraid of fighting Vargas in his hometown. I am only scared of the swine flu” which first wracked Mexico.

The well-conditioned champion recalled that his last fight against Erik Ramirez was also in the Mexican’s hometown but he dropped him four times in rounds , 1, 5, 9 and 12 en route to a unanimous twelve round decision.

Nietes won the vacant WBO title with a twelve round unanimous decision over undefeated Pornsawan Porpramook of Thailand who had a record of 20-0 with 15 knockouts on September 30, 2007.

He successfully defended his title with a knockout of Eddy Castro at 2:49 of the second round at the plush Waterfront Hotel grand ballroom on August 30, 2008 before his second successful title defense against Ramirez on February 28, 2009.

Manuel “Chango” Vargas is 28 and sports a record of 26-3-1 with 11 knockouts. He won the WBO interim title with a 4th round knockout over 37 year old former IBF champion Daniel Reyes (40-5-1, 30 KO’s) on December 6, 2008 and successful defended his interim crown against 22 year old Walter Tello (11-1, 5 KO’s) with a lopsided twelve round decision on February 14, 2009.

Banal who has continued training since his last fight when he scored a spectacular knockout at 2:59 of round two against the “African Golden Boy” Mbwana Matumla said that “while there is no news about my next fight I want to train well so I’ll be ready if called upon to fight.”

Banal who declined a super flyweight title fight against WBO champion Jose “Carita” Lopez because he was having a hard time making the weight is now ranked No. 6 bantamweight by the WBA although he continues to be ranked No. 6 by the IBF and No. 8 by the WBO in the super flyweight division.

Trainer Edmund Villamor who accompanied the two boxers of the famed ALA gym said “they are both in good condition and if AJ gets a fight, he’ll be ready for sure.”

Both Banal and Villamor are hoping that the original Golden Boy Promotions offer to schedule Banal on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr – Juan Manuel Marquez showdown on July 18 still stands even though Banal had turned down the offer for a title shot at Lopez.

Villamor said Banal was “not comfortable at 115 because he is growing.” The promising 20 year old southpaw told us he is “very confident no matter who I fight.”