The Philippine Online Chronicles

The weekend was a good one for Filipino fighters, with one prevailing in boxing, and another copping a UFC coup.

Filipino champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes successfully debuted in the junior flyweight division by defeating Mexican boxer Armando Vazquez in the first round of Pinoy Pride 5. Nietes nailed Vazquez with a devastating right hook, sending the Mexican boxer crashing to the canvas.

Fil-Am mixed martial arts fighter Brandon “The Truth” Vera, meanwhile, is back in the UFC after his last opponent, Thiago Silva of Brazil, admitted that he used steroids during their fight in UFC 125. Vera lost against Silva via unanimous decision, a victory later changed to “no contest” after Silva was proven to have used a banned substance days before UFC 125.

In other news, the Denver Nuggets continued their late charge for the NBA playoffs by beating the woeful Minnesota Timberwolves. The Nuggets converted 19 three-pointers, 10 of them from point guard Ty Lawson to turn a tight game into a wide-open one in the third quarter. The Nuggets are now sporting a 17-6 card after they traded superstar forward Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks.

Robert Guerrero outpointed Australian slugger Michael Katsidis to take the WBO and WBA interim lightweight belts. All the judges had Guerrero wining in their cards with scores of 117-108, 118-106, and 118-107.

NBA: Denver 130, Minnesota 106

Even if the Denver Nuggets were short-handed, all it took was an amazing night from Ty Lawson to make one close game into a laugher. The 5’10" point guard made 10 of his 11 attempts from beyond the arc en route to a 37-point performance, helping the Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 130-106.

Lawson made six three-pointers in nine minutes to extend the Nuggets’ lead to more than 20 points in the third quarter. After that, he nailed two more to make it a 30-point bubble with less than three minutes left heading into the payoff period.

The Timberwolves never seriously threatened the Nuggets after Lawson fired consecutive three-pointers in the second half.

Aside from Lawson, the Nuggets relied on J.R. Smith’s 18 points and Raymond Felton’s 11 markers and 14 dimes.

The Nuggets pulled off the victory even without forwards Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, and Arron Afflalo and centers Timofey Mozgov and Chris Andersen.

For the Timberwolves, Martell Webster and Lazar Hayward led their team by scoring 15 points each. Without their big man combo of Kevin Love and Darko Milicic however, the Timberwolves can’t do anything but watch the Nuggets torch them from the perimeter.

Boxing: Guerrero edges Katsidis, Nietes destroys foe

Guerrero edges Katsidis for lightweight titles

Mexican-American Robert Guerrero pounded Australian Michael Katsidis for 12 rounds to claim the WBO and WBA lightweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Though both fighters traded huge bombs for 12 consecutive rounds, Guerrero landed the more telling blows to earn a unanimous decision victory against Katsidis. The judges scored the bout 118-107, 118-106 and 117-108 all for Guerrero.

The bigger, stronger, and younger Guerrero didn’t have a tough time landing solid blows on Katsidis’ porous defense. Though Katsidis clearly wanted to engage Guerrero in a slugfest, the 28-year-old Mexican-American jabbed and nailed the Australian with amazing regularity.

In the fifth round, Guerrero was pounding Katsidis with all kinds of punches and it looked like the Australian was about to go down. However, Katsidis weathered the storm although it was apparent that Guerrero was just too strong and too skilled for him.

The back-and-forth action pushed on until the final bell and once Guerrero was announced as the winner, he mentioned his intention to fight the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Zab Judah, and even Floyd Mayweather.

Nietes destroys Mexican foe

After dominating the minimumweight class for several years, Filipino boxing champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes decided that it’s about time that he moved to a higher weight class.

His decision to go to junior flyweight class proved right after he knocked out Armando Vazquez of Mexico in round one of their bout in the main card of Pinoy Pride 5.

Nietes unleashed a huge right hook that landed squarely on Vazquez’s jaw, sending the Mexican crashing to the canvas.

With Vazquez unable to beat the count, referee Bruce McTavish ended the bout 2:26 remaining in the opening round.

Nietes, who is the reigning WBO minimumweight champion, intends to challenge the winner of the fight between Jesus Geles of Colombia and Ramon Garcia Hirales of Mexico for the WBO interim junior flyweight belt.

UFC: Fil-Am Brandon Vera back with UFC

A new lease on life. That’s what Fil-Am mixed martial artist Brandon Vera might be saying after getting his contract back with the UFC.

Vera, who was kicked out of the UFC after losing to Thiago Silva of Brazil, was reinstated in the promotional firm after Silva admitted that he used steroids in his fight against the Fil-Am. Vera couldn’t help but be happy with the news that he will be able to fight again in the top-heavy light heavyweight division.

Vera lost via unanimous decision and was beat up so thoroughly by Silva that he had to undergo surgery to repair a badly broken nose. However, after Silva admitted that he steroids and bought a fake urine sample to cover it up, the unanimous decision contest was changed to “no contest”.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) conducted the urine testing and that eventually led to the discovery that Silva indeed submitted fake urine sample days before the fight with Vera.

Though Silva admitted his error and apologized, he reasoned that he needed to use the steroids in order to prevent the pain on his injured discs from flaring up during the fight.

Aside from Vera getting his contract back with the UFC, Silva will be suspended for one whole year while ordered to pay a total of 33, 750 USD.

Meanwhile, Vera vowed that he’ll back in the winning column with the new opportunity that was given to him. In the late 2000s, Vera stunned the world by winning eight straight fights in the heavyweight division. He defeated respected heavyweight contenders such as Justin Eilers, Assuerio Silva, and the former heavyweight champion, Frank Mir.

“Ty Lawson” by Keith Allison c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved.