By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Negrense Donnie Nietes made a triumphant boxing return as he scored a unanimous decision win over Miller Alapormina at the Elorde Sports Center in Parañaque City.

The Negros Occidental’s Murcia-native fighter relied on his experience to dominate Alapormina in their six-round bout to come out with 59-55, 59-55, 59-55 scores from the three judges.

This served as Nietes’ boxing comeback after he last fought was in June 2022, when he lost a unanimous decision in a world championship bout against Kazuto Ioka in Ota, Japan.

The 42-year-old Nietes previously held world titles in the mini-flyweight, junior flyweight, flyweight, and junior bantamweight divisions, and has also broken Gabriel “Flash” Elorde’s record of being the longest reigning Filipino boxing champion.

Nietes improved his boxing record to 44 wins, two draws and six defeats, including 23 stoppage wins.

Alapormina saw his slate dropped to six wins, five losses and two draws, including four knockout wins.

Meanwhile, Filipino boxer Vincent Astrolabio returned to his winning ways with a first-round knockout victory against veteran Thai boxer Prasitsak Phaprom in the co-main event.

The General Santos City-native Astrolabio improved his boxing record to 20-5-0, including 15 stoppage wins.

Phaprom dropped to a 41-5-2 mark, including 20 knockout wins.

On the other hand, Jonjon Estrada (18-15-1, 14 KOs) suffered a first-round knockout defeat to Japanese fighter Yukinori Oguni (22-3-3, nine KOs)./ASC, WDJ