Nietes vs Estrada up next for ALA Promotions in US

SAN FRANCISCO — Even though the result of the Pagara-Juarez fight was not the one he had hoped to achieve, for ALA Promotions President and CEO Michael P. Aldeguer, the show must go on.

Aldeguer will motor to Los Angeles, away from the scene of the nerve-wracking battle at San Mateo Event Center, to meet with Zanfer Promotions people Tuesday (Wednesday Philippine time) to try to finalize the Nietes-Estrada world flyweight title fight on September 24 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on Pinoy Pride 38.

If it pushes through, it will become one of the biggest fights in the lower weights in recent years. Estrada is the current WBO and WBA flyweight champion while Nietes is the WBO and Ring junior flyweight champion.

“We are in serious negotiations right now. The Zanfer people will drive from San Diego to Los Angeles where we meet to iron out the details of the fight,” Aldeguer told Philboxing earlier.

Nietes, the Philippines' longest reigning world champion in history and has WBO Super champion status, has been mandated by the WBO to fight for the third time Mexico's Moises Fuentes, who has become his mandatory challenger. Nietes and Fuentes fought to a draw the first time they met but Nietes had an emphatic victory over Fuentes in their rematch on May 10, 2014 when he decked Fuentes three times en route to a 9th round stoppage.

A lot of people felt there's no point for a third fight. Nietes himself felt the same.

“Nietes came to my office one day, and as usual in his humble self, politely begged me to make the Estrada fight instead,” Aldeguer narrated. “I told him I'll try.”

Since both Fuentes and Estrada are being promoted by Zanfer Promotions, Fernando Beltran, Zanfer CEO, was open to the idea and asked Estrada if he wanted the Nietes fight to which Estrada himself answered in the affirmative.

Aldeguer then wrote to WBO president Francisco Valcarcel asking permission to grant Nietes the privilege to fight for Estrada's belt and if he wins, Nietes will have the option which belt to retain but if he loses, Nietes can continue to defend his old belt as has been done in similar situations.

Valcarcel told Aldeguer he saw no problem with the request, especially since Nietes is a WBO Super champion which certainly earned him such privilege.

“But it's not a done deal yet,” Aldeguer cautioned. “If the deal pushes thru, it will be our biggest budgeted promotion ever. So I'm talking to some people including ABS-CBN's [chairman] Gaby Lopez and also there are a lot of details that we have to iron out with Zanfer.”

Aldeguer, however, felt that this fight has to be made. “All the work I've done the past six years was to ultimately to make these kind of fights. I wanted to make the biggest fights out there for our Filipino boxers. And this opportunity is there now.”

But a specter is always there: What if Nietes loses to Estrada? Will it not affect unfavorably the promotions especially that Nietes is the ALA flagship boxer?

“Boxing is not like organizing a concert event,” Aldeguer told Philboxing once. “In a concert, your only risk is if your singer loses his or her voice. But basically you already see what you've got even before the concert has started. In boxing, it's different. You don't really know what you've got until the hand of the winner has been raised at the very end.”

But for Aldeguer, win or lose, the show must go on. (FREEMAN)