By David Finger

There are always winners and losers in boxing and unfortunately for hard-hitting junior bantamweight Aston Palicte, he came out short in his quest to get an immediate rematch with countryman Donnie Neites. Palicte and Nietes fought to a twelve round draw last month in a fight for the vacant WBO 115-pound title, a fight that ended in a draw. Roy Jones Jr. Boxing representative Guy Taylor, who was there to represent Palicte, was hopeful that an immediate rematch might have been ordered but discovered that Nietes already signed to fight #3 ranked contender Kazuto Ioka in a fight that was subsequently approved to be for the vacant title.

Taylor’s request to have Palicte fight the winner as a mandatory was also not approved, with the WBO encouraging a matchup between Palicte and WBO #4 ranked Jose Martinez in an elimination fight with the winner getting the mandatory position for the title. Nonetheless although Taylor was visibly disappointed he also expressed confident that Palicte would emerge as world champion when the dust settled.