Donnie Nietes Defeats Kazuto Ioka to Win WBO Junior Bantamweight Title

Donnie Nietes won the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title on New Year's Eve after beating Kazuto Ioka in a split decision at Wynn Palace Cotai in Macau, China.

The fight went to the judges after 12 rounds, with Nietes and Ioka each taking a 116-112 victory on two cards, while the third judge scored the fight 118-110 in the former's favour.

Nietes' victory makes him a four-division world champion. In doing so, Nietes (42-1-5, 23 KOs) follows Filipino compatriots Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire Jr. to achieve the feat.

The 36-year-old started strongly, counterpunching well and landing some damaging uppercuts on his opponent in the early rounds.

Ioka wised up as the fight wore on, keeping his distance from Nietes and forcing the Filipino to come out of his shell.

This allowed Ioka to land some body blows of his own and wrestle back the control Nietes had displayed earlier on.

The 29-year-old (23-2, 13 KOs) wasn't able to see out the fight in this manner, though. An aggressive finish from Nietes saw the pair trade blows in close quarters once again in the final two rounds, where the Snake regained his edge and did enough to ensure the scores ended in his favour.

The Ring magazine's Ryan Songalia felt that while Ioka's tactics were effective in the fight, his approach wasn't successful in sufficiently swaying the judges:

He did think the 118-110 score for Nietes was "ridiculous," though.

Per ESPN's Dan Rafael, Nietes will have to defend his new title against the winner of Aston Palicte's elimination fight against Jose Martinez, which takes place on January 31. 

Nietes fought Palicte to a controversial draw in September, with The Ring's Mike Coppinger noting that Nietes appeared to have won the fight before the decision was announced.