fight was against former WBC light flyweight champion Edgar Sosa on September 24, 2016. On April 29, 2017, Nietes became the third Filipino boxer to win world titles in three different weight divisions, along with Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire when he defeated Thailand's Komgrich Nantapech. He successfully defended his title against the mandatory challenger Argentinaian and former two division world champion Juan Carlos Reveco winning via Technical Knockout after Reveco's corner throws in the towel, on the 7th round of the fight. On June 14, 2018, Nietes entered The Ring magazine's pound for pound list for the first time in his career at the number nine spot. Junior bantamweight Nietes made his debut in the junior-bantamweight division against Filipino compatriot Aston Palicte for the vacant WBO Super Flyweight Championship. The fight ended in a split decision draw, 118-110 for Nietes, 116-112 for Palicte and a 114-114 draw at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Punch count statistics saw Nietes, 36, land 194 punches, 70 more than Palicte, his 40 percent of punches landed was nearly twice the accuracy rate of his rival. While not beaten, Nietes was denied a victory that would have put him alongside Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire as the only Asian fighters with world titles in at least four weight classes. He eventually won the same vacant title after defeating Kazuto Ioka via split decision on December 21, 2018 becoming the third Asian to win world titles in at least four weight classes. On February 6, 2019, the WBO ordered a rematch of Nietes and Palicte after a controversial result of their first fight. On February 28, 2019, Nietes decided to vacate his WBO Junior Bantamweight title to pursue more lucrative fights in a different organization or weight class. On April 3, 2021, Nietes fought Pablo Carillo, for the vacant WBO International junior-bantamweight title. Nietes won via unanimous decision, the scorecards were, 99-91, 98-92 and 96-95. On December 11, 2021 Nietes made his first title defense against Norbelto Jimenez at the Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The fight ended in a ten-round split decision draw. The scores were 96-94 Nietes, 96-94 Jimenez and 95-95 and Nietes was able to retain his WBO International junior-bantamweight title. On April 1, 2022, the WBO ordered Kazuto Ioka to make a mandatory title defense against Nietes. The bout was a rematch of their December 31, 2018 fight, in which