Villanueva falls to Tete in WBO interim title bout

CEBU, Philippines – 'King' Arthur Villanueva of the ALA Boxing Gym suffered a major drawback in his bid to fight for another world title after  losing by a lopsided unanimous decision to South Africa’s Zolani Tete in their WBO eliminator that was later sanctioned as a WBO interim bantamweight championship bout on Saturday night at the Leicester Arena in England.

After 12 rounds of action, Tete dominated Villanueva with the scores of 120-109 and 119-108 twice.

In a report by Ron Jackson of supersport.com, Tete used his height and reach advantage to keep Villanueva on the outside from the opening bell. The Pinoy boxer suffered a cut over his right eye during an accidental head-butt halfway through the first round but was well controlled by his corner and never a factor in the fight.

The 29-year-old South African southpaw took full control from rounds two to four where Villanueva struggled to find his rhythm.

In round five, Villanueva got a warning from referee Steve Gray for a low blow, from which Tete readily recovered after a short break.

Tete scored a flash knockdown when he floored Villanueva with a straight right to the jaw in round six. He continued his splendid display of boxing exhibition for the remainder of the match.

Tete now holds an improved 25-3 record with 19KOs, while the 28-year-old Villanueva dropped to 30-2 with 16KOs.

For his resounding victory, Tete earned a mandatory shot at the WBO bantamweight crown that is currently vacant after former champion Marlon "Nightmare" Tapales was stripped of his belt for failing to make the contracted weight limit of 118 lbs. last Saturday afternoon on the eve of his scheduled defense against Japan's Shohei Omorio, his former knockout victim, at the Edion Arena in Osaka. The result of the Tapales-Omori bout was still unavailable as of this writing last night.

Should Tapales win, the WBO title will become vacant, while should Omori be victorious, he will be the new WBO bantamweight champion and thus, be obligated to defend his throne against Tete. — EBV (FREEMAN)