Donnie Nietes-Aston Palicte Fight Ruled Draw After 12 Rounds

After 12 rounds of fighting, Donnie Nietes and Aston Palicte earned a split-decision draw in Saturday night's super flyweight title bout at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

The judges scored the fight 118-110 Nietes, 116-112 Palicte and 114-114 even.

As a result, the junior flyweight title remains unclaimed, as pointed out The Ring's Ryan Songalia.

Nietes came out strong, appearing to be in control early on:

As the fight went on, he continued to bring it:

On the other side, though, Palicte earned high praise from HBO commentator Max Kellerman, who called it an "impressive performance," per HBOboxing, by the 27-year-old.

Palicte may have held his own, but the decision of a draw caught many off guard. The Los Angeles Times' Mike Coppinger and Black Sports Online's Jeandra LeBeauf were among those surprised:

This was a showdown between two fighters who have piled up the victories through the years.

Nietes entered the fight with a career record of 41-1-4, with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Angky Angkotta in September 2004. The 36-year-old had a perfect 10-0-0 record in his previous 10 fights, with his last draw coming more than five years ago. He defeated Juan Carlos Reveco (39-4-0) via knockout at The Forum back in February.

As ESPN.com's Dan Rafael noted back in April, Nietes had to vacate his 112-pound flyweight belt as he moved up to 115 pounds. That allowed him to pursue a fourth division title.

"Today, I have made my decision to move up to 115 and vacate my IBF flyweight world title," Nietes said, per Rafael. "This is the challenge I have been waiting for. To go up in weight is never easy, but this is my dream, to become a four-division world champion and to fight all the big names. This is a new challenge for me, and I am very happy that ALA Promotions has supported me to pursue my dream of a fourth division world title."

Nietes had previously proved himself by winning titles in strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight. He entered with an incredible 16-0-1 record in world title fights.

Meanwhile, Palicte (24-2-1) had been just as impressive throughout his career. Although he was defeated by Junior Granados back in March 2016, he had walked away victorious in each of his last four bouts and 14 of his last 15. He had last fought against Jose Alfredo Rodriguez (32-7-0) back in December 2017.

Palicte once referred to Nietes as his "idol," according to Songalia. No matter the opponent, though, he was looking forward to the opportunity to prove himself with everything on the line, even at the expense of a fellow countryman.

"Being that it's against another Filipino doesn't really mean so much to me," Palicte said, according to Songalia. "The fact that it is a world championship fight is what's important to me."

Nietes and Palicte are two of the top four super flyweight competitors in the Philippines, according to BoxRec.com.