Donnie Nietes, 38, showed the top 115-pounders on Saturday that he has more to give.
Nietes (43-1-5, 23 KOs) outboxed and ultimately outworked Pablo Carrillo to win a unanimous decision on the Jamel Herring-Carl Frampton card in Dubai.
Nietes hadn’t fought since December 2018 but certainly didn’t fight like it, as he controlled the fight from beginning to end. He landed more punches and they were harder than his opponent’s.
The final scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 96-95.
The former four-division titleholder from the Philippines now remains undefeated since September 2004, a stretch of more than 16 years.
He has said he wants one more shot at a title, which means he’s targeting 115-pound beltholders Juan Francisco Estrada, Jerwin Ancajas and Kazuto Ioka.
Carrillo (25-8-1, 16 KOs) had never faced anyone near Nietes’ ability and it showed in the fight.
